The House in the Woods
by Lighter
Summary: It started out as a fun camping trip: hiking, fishing, telling ghost stories... who knew that the horror would become real?
1. The House in the Woods

Disclaimers: I don't own Resident evil or any of the people or things mentioned in the Resident evil universe. Nor do I own 3 ninjas or anything mentioned within their universe. I make no profit off this work of fiction as well. Thank you.

A.N: I'm doing this for a friend, and I hope you like the changes being made. Its the same without being the same you know. Please enjoy everybody.

...

"You sure you're okay with this grandpa?" Colt asked his grandfather as the family is set around the table having breakfast. "Because we could go with you this summer instead?"

"Jeffrey." His mother replied to the offer for her father; voice stern and telling her second child to mind his manners as their father is sitting right at the other end of the table. "Your dad has been planning this trip for months. You boys can't always spend your summers with your grandfather. He needs some alone time too."

"As opposed to the partying he does throughout the non-summer months." Colt retorts, then turning his grandfather he places a hand on the man's shoulder. "Grandpa, you should really cut back on that, you need some alone time."

Sam and Jessica Douglas didn't find it as amusing as Mori had, and the elderly, but still sharp as a tack, ninja master cut his laughter short. Deciding to get on his daughter's side, Mori cleared his throat and offered his respectful go ahead to the teen. "Your mother is right, you need to spend some time with your father."

"Mom's in the same boat he is when it come to time share- ow!" He glances at his older brother, who's seated beside him. "But you don't see her coming along- Rocky, kick me again and I swear!" The fourteen year old balled up his fist holding it to his brother's viewpoint to show he meant business.

"Colt, give it a rest." Rocky replied to the threat. "This is gonna be cool, and besides, we can always spar with each other out in the woods. Maybe we can even teach dad a thing or two?"

Sam smiled at the thought. "Oh sure, a rusty guy like me needs more work with his hand to hand combat skills. I'd love to see what you've learned."

Under his breath, and with a bite of cheesy scrambled eggs before his chattering mouth, Colt says. "Never cared to see before."

Tum Tum shook his head in disbelief. Why does Colt always have to be impossible? Camping sounds really cool. And honestly, he does want to spend some time with their father. Its about time in Tum Tum's book! He was beginning to think that the man loved his job more than them, secretly of course, he would never share these feelings outloud. Deciding to steer the conversation to a better place, the youngest of the Douglas brother's says. "Can we fish over at the Arklay mountains, Dad? Is there a river or pond?"

Glad that at least 2 of his kids wants to hang out with him, Sam nods. "A river filled with silver fish, and snapper."

"Awesome. I've never fished before- except for with Corey's dad that one weekend, but I didn't catch anything."

Corey Rosenberge is Tum Tum's best friend, he does everything with the boy.

"I'm more looking forward to the mountain climbing. Going up rock walls and the youth center isn't the same as the real thing." Rocky chimes in on the list of fun-filled activites that can be done on this camping trip.

Colt could take a hint, he wasn't going to naysay anymore about the trip. He'll just roll with the punches. Besides, he's not against the great outdoors. Their grandpa had them sleep in a cave once- a ninja has to find shelter in various places; if a ninja must rest that is. Usually its downtime from a really hectic battle, and you need to recover. Colt wondered if they'd see any dangerous animals out in the forest. Will their dad bring his gun along for just incase? It seemed like a smart idea to him because Colt isn't exactly sure how ninja would fair up to a bear or mountain lion.

"Tell me when you're going, I wanna make sure the boys have a few things." Mori questions.

"Don't worry, Mori, we've got everything we need for the trip." Sam informs his father-in-law.

"I'll just pack a few kunai, maybe a shurikan or three?"

Colt snickered quietly. He could always count on grandpa to truly be on his side. He understands him; a fitting nickname like 'Colt' is proof of that. Not like Jeffrey, I mean really, where was the pride in that? At least he isn't Samuel. Poor Rock', just one of the unlucky breaks of being born first. Parents always want a legacy, although, having 'the II' after his name would be pretty cool.

"We're _fine_." Insists Sam finishing up with his meal in the last few bites. "We'd better get moving if we're gonna get there in daylight."

"Awesome! This is gonna be so cool!" Jumping up from his seat, Tum tum was sure to nab three more muffins from the basket before heading into the living room to grab up his backpack.

Its equipt with everything he needs; their father took them shopping on Tuesday for supplies: compasses, fishing lures, pocket knives, cantines, new sleeping bags, and lunch boxes for holding fruit. Mom insisted they eat something other than fish, and packed them some raw vegetables for sides. Their hiking boots and climbing gear came last since it was the most expensive and needed the most attention put toward it.

Everyone seemed to be in motion all at once after the youngest departed from the table. Their mother was gathering her men into a firm hug, kissing them, and saying that she loves them, to have a good time, and not to give their father a hard time, and for Sam not to lose his temper- Tum's farely sure that that comment was meant mostly for his and Colt's sake, since the two always seemed to be butting heads. Tum tum waited for her to move in on him and opened his arms to the onslaughter of love.

"Bye mom, bye grampa. I'll miss you guys."

Colt smiled at how open youth could be about their feelings. Tum tum would have to man up a bit while their out in the woods. Otherwise the squirt could get eaten by a raccoon or something. "I'm gonna pack the car," He says to anyone listening, which he doubted that anyone was over their 'so long' commotion. Opening the front door, he isn't the least bit surprised that he almost ran into Emily Heart, Rocky's girlfriend- in her dreams anyway.

"Hi, Colt." She greeted in the usual, I-was-just-minding-my-own-business-when-I-noticed-you-coming-out-of-your-home-and-thought-I'd-say-hi-, kind of way.

Colt never bought it, Tum tum never bought it, Rocky didn't either but he played along pretty well. He was only really shy around Emily because he knew that she liked him and he doesn't really want a realationship like that. Its understandable to act a little cautious and hesitant about what you say in the presence of a girl who can't take a hint after knowing a guy since kindergarten.

Shaking his head in disbelief that she couldn't even try a new act out, he replied nicely. "Hey." Before moving on to the car to do as he'd said he would, which is pack it full of the items they've bought through the week.

Being outside, gear in hand, he really feels an air of excitement rush through him. True, he'd rather be doing ninja this summer, but this camping trip could turn out to be pretty cool too. Maybe he and Dad will really find a new kind of appreciation for each other. Closing the driver's door after he popped the trunk open, Colt glances at his advancing family. Laughter rang from his throat the minute he spots his father beneath the kakhi colored safari hat. How can his father dress like Steve Irwin when he's trying to be cool? They're not going on a safari, they're going camping. Oh well, at least he isn't sporting heavy sunblock on his nose. Now _that_ would tip the scale of 'extremely embarrassing'; and Colt would sooner get lost in the woods than be seen within ten feet of a man who looked like that.

"Catch a lot of fush, boys!" Jessica called from the doorway. "Oh, hello Emily." She seemed to say, almost as if she were alerting Rocky that the girl was kind of ampted for his attention.

Mission successful, the older male cast his dual colored gaze to the girl. "Hi, Emily. Did you hear that we're going camping?" He assumed Colt would have told her.

"No. Is that what all this commotion is about?" She smiled, her posture shifting completely when Rocky spoke to her. She was like a puppy in the park, glad that a human decided to give her some food- she didn't even have to do tricks.

"Yeah, we're going with our Dad."

As if it were his cue, he called to his eldest son. "Give me your bag, we have to get this stuff in here neatly."

"Okay!" He called over to the man, and to Emily he says. "Excuse me," Before walking to the car to hand off his bag. It would be another five or so minutes before the car is packed properly, so he came back over to speak to the girl.

"I'm glad that you guys are gonna be around this summer. I'm used to you going to your grandpa's place in the next city."

"Oh, we won't be as close," Rocky shakes his head. "we're going to Montana, up in the Arklay mountains. We checked it out online, the place is really beautiful- I'll make sure to show you the pictures when we get back."

Grinning, she nods. "That'd be great. How long will you be gone for?"

"About two weeks."

"So after that, you'll be at home?"

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, unless grampa wants to take us to his cabin afterwards?" With a shrug of his shoulders, he adds. "I'm not sure."

"Oh. Well... I'll see you when you get back then."

"Yup. See ya Em'."

"Bye."

Mori and Jessica had to feel for the girl. She just didn't take the hints, but it was sweet to watch all the same. Young love. Mori had to think that Sam was lucky that Jessica had 3 sons, and maybe would never experience it with a girl. Its much more different when its a girl. Instead of being happy for them, you wanna get out your katana and tell the suiter that he'd better make curfew or else. The three watch the car roll down the street until its out of sight; they could hear the 3 boys singing away some idiotic song involving Batman and Rudolf the red nosed reign deer.

"Well their gone." Jessica says to no one in particular. "Would you like to come in for some tea, Emily? We have muffins?"

"I'd love to." Following Jessica and Mori into the home, she closes the door behind herself.

"Can you believe how many different birds I've seen already?" Rocky lowers the binoculars from his eyes. "Almost five!"

Rolling his eyes, Colt lowers his gaze back to his comic books, mumbling under his breath. "You know how many times I've said you're an idiot for watching birds?"

"I heard that," Rocky retorts, though his tone bares no fang. "And its really cool, Colt. You should have look." Holding out his binoculars to his brother, he's a little surprised that they're actually taken from him. And he's not surprised at all when they are thrown into the woods.

Sighing, in aggitation, Rocky swats his brother on the head when passing by to retrieve his abused item. Tum tum and Sam are gathering sticks to burn so they can get dinner going. The 4 days that they've been out here, so far were great. They've hiked up a trail and looked down into the sweep of forest green. The view is amazing from up high, miles of green all around them, and blue mountain peaks. The humidity isn't as hot here as it is in L.A., which was a real treat and break from the heat.

"I hope we catch some fish." Rocky says while off in the distance. "Maybe we could try to cook them in a way other than charring them today."

Chuckling, Colt shakes his head. "Doubt it. Unless you know something that none of us do?"

"Maybe. We clean fish for grampa all the time." Dropping himself down beside his brother, he grabs a free comic flipping through the pages. "I've seen this recipe on the cooking channel for fruit that you can put on fish."

"I hope it doesn't taste too sweet. You know I'm a salty guy." Colt grinned cheekily.

"Yeah, yeah."

A loud boom called their attention to the left. It was right then that their Dad and Tum tum emerged from the forest; a large pile of sticks in hand.

"What was that?" Tum tum wondered as if his brother's were onsight with the sound.

"Don't know." Rocky stood up as if his field of vision were much farther than it is. "Maybe a tree fell?"

"I don't think a tree sounds like that," Colt chimed in.

"Could be coal miners." Sam guessed. "They could be blowing through a mineshaft."

"That's cool." Tum tum decided, and then turned his attention to the bigger picture. Dinner. "We've got more sticks. I got bit up by more mosquitos than I wanted to, but it was worth it for a meal." He's already setting them up, ready to start a fire.

The kids already know how to do such things, but when they arrived they allowed their father the pleasure of feeling as though he were the one spreading this knowledge to them for the first time rather than Mori. Although, secretly, every guy pretty much knows how to start a fire at anytime, and anywhere. Its a guy thing. The boys once got a fire going by just rubbing 2 bricks together rigorously, before dropping them onto a small pile of straw. It lit up like a brush fire, which they quickly put out by stamping on it. At the time, it was hilarious and cool, but they'd never do something like that now. Much too dangerous.

"Fire's going." Tum announced backing away from the crackling flames. Hands brushing against his pant legs to remove the bits of twig clinging to him.

"Rocky's gonna make us a fruit salsa." Colt informed them.

"I saw it on the cooking channel." Rocky shrugged as if for a man it were no great feat. "I just need a pan."

Sam dug around in the supply bag until he located one. Handing it off to his son, he smiled. "Its gonna be nice to have something other than charred fish."

"I said that same thing." Colt offered the man a smile.

"If that's the case we should break into the hot dogs and beans." Tum tum said after swallowing a gulp of water.

Another boom caught their attention.

"Hope they don't get too close. That could be dangerous." Tum tum perked his posture trying to gain some of that long-range sight as Rocky had been.

"We should be fine." Sam flips the fish over in the pan. He set up a long little rack that transfers into an almost grill in appearance, with the way it heats up to double as a stove. Rocky is occupying the other side of it with his pan of fruit.

"Tell us about when you were younger Dad, was it easy starting out on the force?" Rocky asked to break the slowly growing silence in the area.

"The force... it wasn't easy. I failed my arms test three times."

Snickering, Colt comments. "And you're always getting on _me_ to study. I didn't know you had life experience of failure."

"What? You actually believe that your oldman is perfect?" Sam seemed humored and almost proud at the idea of that.

"Full-grown with a briefcase, Dad." Chuckled Colt.

The other two snickered as well.

Shaking his head, Sam replied. "Not me, I was a real pest- just like you. But my oldman would never let me get away with it. It was his idea that his son fly straight, and like him, I joined the force. I hated it at first, all the other startes seemed to know their stuff... I was just kind of there for my Dad's sake."

"But you like it now, don't you?"

"Oh sure! Its not just the little things anymore. My job has become a whole big picture now." Sam looked up at the sky as if his childhood were projecting there like a movie. "I thought you'd have all the girls in the world, they love a man in uniform." He laughed when his kids scrunched their noses in thought of himself getting a lot of female attention other than their mother. "I thought awards for bravery, donuts," He laughed about that as yes, he has had a lot of donuts in his policing days. "But no, its saving people that makes me feel how much I love my job."

"Sort of like how we love ninja, huh, guys?" Tum looked at his brothers, who nod in agreement.

"Yeah." His brothers agree.

"I'm glad that you boys have ninja..." Sam said in a serious tone. He wanted the boys to know this, and has been meaning to say so for a long time but, its just so damned hard to bring up when the kids beam at you, but not because their happy to see _you_ but rather that they've had a wonderful summer, via someone else, and can't wait to share. But to Sam it stung and came off more as rubbing it in rather than sharing the wealth of joy. "You may think that I disapprove,"

"Because you do." Colt chided.

"Colt, shh!" Hissed Rocky.

"No, its true. You boys light up when you're back from your grandfather's cabin." He's picking bits of bark from a twig. "Its good to see. But I often wonder if I'll so much as get the chance to make you that happy. I can teach you a lot of things as well."

"I'd be glad to do anything with you, Dad." Rocky exclaimed. "Just name it! Camping with you now has been a blast! Grampa will be sure tp hear all about it."

Colt had to somewhat roll his eyes at his older brother's enthusiasm. It always cusped on the verge of lacking in Colt's opinion. But their father seemed to bite, because he grinned like a school boy.

"Really? How 'bout after dinner I teach you kids how to shoot a gun? And you can, uh, teach me some ninja tricks."

That seemed to grab Colt's attention. "Would you really teach us how to shoot a gun?" He didn't even know that his father had brought his gun.

"Sure. Its not the same as with your video games," This he said to Rocky, who is addicted to shooter games right now. "You actually have to work on aim, get past the recoil."

"Recoil?" Tum tum seemed to almost taste the word in his mouth. "What's that?"

"Its the time it takes for the gun to be ready to fire another bullet, the fire also pushed the gun back at you- depending on the strength of the fire."

Sam was almost glowing with how enthralled his children seemed to be with the conversation. He was sure that they'd be responsible with the knowledge. It might even save their life one day- well, maybe not. Which is why, deep down, he's very proud of the boys for having ninja skills. It keeps them away from guns. It also helps them defend themselves from bullies around the neighborhood or at school. He doesn't want to acknowledge it with his own children, but he knows that their are children who pick on them from time to time; trying to get them riled up. When it comes to Jeffrey that's not exactly hard to do as just about anything will set the boys mouth off, which in turn makes the aggressor even more liable to react and bully him back harder. Rocky tries to alleviate the situations but that only gets him involved as well. His older brother Anthony was a Rocky, helpful and trying his hardest to keep him out of trouble. His son would probably be very surprised to know just how similar they truly are. Maybe he'd share some of his past with them while they're teaching each other methods of self defense.

Dinner was delicious; Rocky should watch the cooking channel more often it seemed, as they all came back for seconds of his fruit salsa. They discussed what to do with the hot dogs they'd be having tomorrow, and Tum tum whipped out a bag of marshmallows for a quick s'mores while he watched Rocky taking his turn with the gun. Sam showed them where the safety was, and how to put it into place and remove it for when they want to fire. How it keeps the gun in an almost safe mode while you're moving about. They had no idea that guns could misfire by being jostled too much. Sam set up a target by using some tape to make rings on a piece of paper. Hanging it from the tree, he explained the best method to get the aim exact was not to focus on the front of the gun but the little knot at the front of the barrel. He told them to look between the slit.

"Take aim..." Sam nodded. "Fire."

The gun went off, and Rocky felt the shake through his arms. He actually felt like a novice for squeezing the trigger with two fingers instead of one. It was amazing how strange it felt in real life rather than the virtual one. "Amazing." He grinned like a happy little child seeing bubbles floating in the air for the first time. "Can I fire it again?"

Proud, Sam nodded. "Now that you've got the feel of it firing off, steady it by holding one hand underneath and the other around the handle. Part your legs a bit, now fire."

This time instead of flying completely beneath the target as the first bullet had, the paper flapped hard in the breeze as the middle ring took a direct hit.

"Good job, Rocky." Tum tum cheered over a mouth full of gummy bears.

"Thanks." He grins. Taking aim, he fired too more shots but never hit the bullseye. He didn't care though, he was very proud of himself for hitting the target at all. "Here Colt."

Colt was gung-ho and couldn't wait to fire the gun off. "Shit." He spat out when missing the target. It really didn't seem that it should be hard, but he missed the target time and time again, he'd even struck the tree! Thankfully his brothers weren't laughing at him, and if they were they kept it too quiet to be heard. Their father came over to him and helped him get into a better position.

"Usually, you should keep the gun leveled with where you neck begins and your chin ends." Explained Sam.

"Oh yeah?"

Nodding, their father then takes the gun from Colt. "You see, its merely a shift up." The gun went off hitting the target in the center. "Or down," Again the gun fires off hitting the target just below the bullseye. "to the center points. But those are kill shots, if you want to injure but not kill- which I think you should aim for when in combat- you keep it even with your chest and aim down diagonal." Try to hit that fern growing beside the trunk."

Taking the gun into his grasp, Colt took aim remembering to keep the level to his chest as his father instructed. Wetting his lips in concentration, he fires. "I hit it!" He cheered. "Did you see that?" He looked to his brothers, who nodded and gave him a thumbs up. "Where did I hit the guy?" Colt asked their father.

"That's equivalent of a knee level. Its good to fire at a persons knee if you don't want to kill them."

"Oh. Well can you lower the target? Maybe I can nail the guy in the chest." Colt walks over to the target to do just that.

When Colt was finished lowering the target, Sam told him to reposition the gun at neck level. "Just aim up or down."

This time when Colt fired he hit the bullseye right off. "Yeah!" He pumped his fist in the air.

"Me next!" Getting up from the laying position he was in, Tum tum- with sticky fingers- takes the gun from his brother. "Where should I aim, dad?"

After going over all the safety rules and exampling it to the younger child, who might have needed a refresher course, Sam moved the child into position. "Aim up or down for a chest shot. Or, for your height, you can go for the knee."

"Grandpa tells me that same thing. He said it when we were much younger, how we should aim low to bring to opponent down to our level then we strike at the higher locations like the head or chest since they've come down to our size."

"That's very smart of Mori; and true to life whether it be hand to hand combat or a gun."

"I'm going for the knee." Tum tum says while aiming the gun for the fern Colt had shot.

The 3 boys practice 3 clips away easy, then their father gave them a bit of impress with how well a shot he is. They loved it, and readily jumped at the chance to go to the shooting range with their father once they got home. Sam, embarrassed but willing, stands now in first position to do a rolling kick. In his boots he managed to stay on his feet, but he still wobbled terrible in the turn. It gave the boys so much to laugh about, but they just ate it up that their father was doing it, and with zero complaint other than he should tug his pants up a bit for certain moves, his crotch is getting squashed. The kids thought they'd meet their end from laughter when Sam went for a flying jump kick right into a shrub.

With such a wonderful day it was hard to imagine that anything could go wrong right then.

...

It was so weird how it had happened. One minute they were sleeping, almost, they had just finished chattering on about this and that that they've missed in each others lives- the kids aren't always around each other- and that conversation turned into looking at the stars. The serene of star gazing closed their eyes in a drowsy fog, but before they could hit dream land they all shot up in their bags.

"What's the matter?" Sam asked, flash light in hand on and shining. He isn't ninja intuned as they are, so he assumed it was a bear or something.

The boys have been awaked by their grandfather many a morning to know when they're falling under attack- even a false one. But this was no practice run, something was out there and moving in fast.

"Get up..." Rocky says authoritavely. "Everybody get up." He's in battle stance waiting for the attack. Good thing he didn't change into nothing but boxers and a t-shirt. Last thing that Rocky would want is to open combat in his underwear. Colt and Tum tum take position next to Rocky.

Sam, on the otherhand, gets up and grabs his gun. He wasn't as amped to watch the boys fight first-hand when it could just be a hiker. "Is anybody there?" He called out. "I'm an F.B.I agent. If you need help then-..."

His words are cut off when sprinting through the forest thick is a mangled looking-...

"Is that a dog?" Tum tum asked trying to get a better look by craning his neck and bobbing his head back and forth to get a better patch of moonlight to see with.

"Uuum, it seems like its a _lot_ of dogs." Colt chimed in.

They were surrounded within seconds of the first dog revealing itself. And they would have been damned confused about exactly what was the meaning of it- believing it to be hunters and their pack of track dogs- but one of the dogs lunged at Colt only to be knocked over the head by the butt of the handgun his father held. The other dogs didn't seem to take this lightly and they charged them. Sam shot a few; the boys kicked and punched a good many of them to back off but that didn't keep them from trying for them again and again.

"These dogs must have rabies or something!" Tum tum exclaimed, he was already heading away from the area. "We have to get out of here." He called over his shoulder.

"Tum tum!" Rocky called after him running.

"Samuel, Michael! Don't run off!" Sam shouted.

"Come on, come on!" Colt grabbed his father by the arm, tugging his father away from a bite on the leg he didn't see coming his father's way.

Colt would never run from a dog, not normally. But these dogs were anything but normal because the ones that their father shot didn't seem the least bit phased by it. Infact, they stood back up ready to charge again! That's the kind of thing that you'd understand of a bear but a dog? Its crazy!

"Tum tum, this way!" Rocky snagged his brother's wrist tugging him along to the right.

They can hear their father's gun going off behind them, Sam called on ahead for the boys to keep going and that he would try to hold off the dogs. They had to believe him, because nothing that they were doing seemed to be working. Growls seemed to surround them; how could those mutts have covered so much ground in such a short amount of time. They had a good leg up in the run. Could there be more than what were at the camp? This whole forest could be crawling with the crazed animals; they could have mated and crossbred with just about anything. It was possible, right?

"Ow!" Tum tum cried out when he'd tripped over a rock. He didn't care for being dragged, but he wasn't exactly going to pull himself free- what are a few scrapes compared to being mauled to death?

"I'm sorry, Tum," Rocky panted out.

Rocky wasn't sure where he was going but he was going there pretty damn fast. The sounds of their father grew further and further away but the sound of the hellhounds bounding behind them seemed to strengthen. The boys were on their last breath, they could tell they had to stop running and soon or they'd black out from overexertion.

"There! Do you see that!" Rocky cried out sprinting ahead with a sudden burst of new energy. "Its a house!" He knew he'd seen one when they took that hike the other day.

Out in the middle of the woods stood a large mansion of a home. It seemed like there was no path to it, it honestly didn't even seem like anyone lived in it. But someone had to! Unless its a vacation home, and the owners are out. Whatever the story, Rocky hoped that they were kind people and would let them in. Maybe they could call animal control once inside. The 3 boys nearly smacked into the double doors they were running so quickly; fist pounding on the doors they cried out over and over: Let us in! Let us in! But no one came to their aid. Tum Tum tried the door bell but got no response.

"Oh move, we can't wait!" Colt bellowed, grabbing the door knob and giving it a good turn he plowed on in when the door swung open.

Not about to be foolish and wait for an invite, Rocky and Tum tum followed after him. They slammed the door closed just in time to avoid the lunging rottweilers. The 3 ninjas collapsed to the floor instantly, they were so thoroughly out of breath they wondered if it would ever even out. Not even on their heftiest training days with grandpa were they ever this out of breath.

"Is it over now?" Tum tum asked, eyes closed and leaning heavily against the door.

4 loud bangs sound off in the distance. The 3 turn their heads in that direction.

"Dad!" Colt figured when he realized that the sound was gunshots.

"Colt," Standing, Rocky placed his arm before his brother's chest to stop him from rushing off. "it might not be him. Let me go check it out first. You two wait here."

"But Rocky, that sounds stupid. What if it isn't Dad? People don't just fire off guns without a reason, they could shoot at you too?"

"I know how to handle that... we all do. But incase something does go wrong-..."

"Rocky don't even say that." Tum tum commented.

"I know, but..." He shrugged. "Just wait here, please."

"Rocky?" Colt looks kindly at his brother. "Be careful."

After a nod of assurance, Rocky went left to a set of thick wooden double doors. He half expected to be met by a barrel of a gun but there was no one inside. Closing the door behind him, incase someone should leap out at him they at least won't see his brother's right away and that would give them a chance to escape. Looking from left to right as he moves down the length of a long dining room, Rocky wondered if maybe they had been mistaken about the sound. The windows revealed a tell tale sign that it was going to storm as flashes of lightning lit the darkened sky. Regardless of being on alert, Rocky had to admire the place. Its gorgeous. A long room decorated with beautiful light fixtures sticking out from tucks into the wall, a large grandfather clock is in the center of the right wall, a painting with two men in medievil combat is at the clocks right. It looked as if one man were stabbing the other in the chest, and that man was stabbing him through the head. Who'd want a painting like that? Two large windows with many panes takes up nearly all of the left wall Rocky is beside; his fingers are running along the tops of the many seats place beneath the very long dining table in the center of the room. Its rich mahogany color could almost be felt through his skin. The table was set for a meal it looked like: plates, silverware, glasses, napkins. Everything but the meal itself lay out on the table. The most noticable thing that someone lived here is that a fire is crackling away at the end of the lavish room. It looked fresh lit as well. Whoever was shooting at something definitely lives here. He hoped like anything that it wasn't some back-woods family that ate people, and sent their hellhounds out to find hikers, campers and the likes for dinner. And as far as their living in a mansion, he's seen the Beverly Hillbilies dozens of times. The lucky creeps could have hit the gas station lotto or something.

"Hello?" He tried out. Making first contact would let the owner know that they are friendly. "I'm sorry to just barge in like this but, we were being chased through the forest and needed shelter. We only need to wait around for a little bit, if you'll let us." Rounding the table he sees a single door on the right wall; its cracked open. The shooter must be on the other side through there. "Hello?" He called again, inching closer to the doorway. "Excuse me?" He gives the door a slight push open.

His ears are met with an odd sound that he can't right away identify. Like... maybe if you wet up a big old beach towel and squeeze it out really well, or maybe just plopped it into a large tub and stomped and squished the water out. Poking his head in a bit further when a bolt of lightning lit the hall, Rocky says a little louder. "Hello?"

There, in the short distance ahead of him, is a shadow of a person bent over some heap on the floor. Rocky hoped that it was one of those dogs, and that the shooter was just as lost and confused as they all were- or maybe if the shooter were the home owner and unfortunately one of the mutts got in through an open door or window. Walking into the dark hall, nothing but brief lightning flashes assist his handicapped vision. There is definitely a man crotched on the floor.

"Sir?" He assumed because of the pale bald head he's looking at. "Sir, would it be alright if he stayed here for a while? We were out camping in the forest when..."

Rocky silenced himself when the man seemed almost hyper alert to the fact that Rocky was only two feet away from him. How did he miss him speaking? Was he deaf? Maybe his hearing was only a bit impaired. But when the man began to slowly, very slowly, turn his head to face him Rocky's eyes bugged up wide enough to make an onlooker believe they'd come right out of his head. He tried to say something but no words were coming out; but his legs worked on their own and backed him up towards the door. The man's mouth was covered in blood! Bits of what looked to be dog food were speckled here and there around his mouth, thick spats of blood caked his broken teeth. Blind eyes look hungrily at Rocky and almost instantly when Rocky's hand hit the door knob to the dining room does this... he can't even consider him a man, he looks not a bit human to Rocky, but he stands abruptly up and comes rushing toward him. Hands reaching from outstretched arms and it staggered heavily, which seemed to be Rocky's saving grace because he'd made it through the door.

The light in the room illuminated the attacker making him look more gruesome than the lightning blinking hallway. He's a monster! And bleeding from holes that are in his chest, the dripping blood leaves a dotted red trail on the black and white checkered floor. Whomever was shooting was shooting at this thing. But... where is the shooter then if this thing is still...

"Oh no." Rocky concluded what happened to the man when remembering the blood around this things mouth. This steadily approaching thing!

Getting into battle stance, Rocky knew that he had to get this thing before it got him or found his brothers. Keeping quiet about his attack so that Colt and Tum tum don't come running to his rescue- if they could hear it over the loud booms that have started up. The storm must have gotten closer. The monster groaned as it sped forward to receive a hook kick from Rocky to the left side of its head. Staggering as if it never had balance at all, Rocky leapt into the air shooting his leg backward to kick the murderer in the chest. Landing so that he's still facing the monster, battle stance firmly in place, he felt kind of bad when seeing the creature stagger backward before it fell and cracked its head on the rim of the solid stone fireplace. A sickening, loud sound that could have easily split the back of its head open. But the sad part, kind of sad anyway, was watching it shrink lower to the floor after that and its head fell right into the roaring fireplace. At least he knew it was stopped. He'd better get back to Colt and Tum tum.

Rocky turned away and hurried to the double doors, he couldn't wait to meet up with his brothers. Hard as it was to admit it, he was pretty scared. What the hell was that thing anyway? He knew deep down, but he damn sure was not going to believe it. Grabbing the handle to the door, he froze. Behind him, it sounded as if the hall door had just been tugged shut. It couldn't be? No. Its better to just leave, regroup, and hopefully find their father. He should be catching up to them soon anyway.

"You guys, we need to go." Rocky says to his waiting brother's. The two are seated on a large staircase that breaks off in the middle heading left and right.

"Why? What did you see?" Colt asks.

"Was it Dad?" Tum tum stands to greet his brother.

Rocky shakes his head. "We just... shouldn't be here. It isn't right to break into someone's home without their consent."

"Rocky, screw consent. Do you wanna be mauled by those dogs out there?"

Honestly, Rocky would rather take his chances with the dogs than encounter another one of those mutant canibal things. But he knew his brothers knew nothing about that, and trying to force them out regardless would raise too many questions that he would have to answer, since to them leaving made no sense. So he shakes his head.

"Good. Don't lose your head. We'll stay here and wait for Dad."

"Right. Stay _here._" He stressed the 'here' for a reason. Taking a seat on the stairs, Rocky keeps his gaze on the dining room doors.

The three sit silently, listening to the raging storm outside. The large room seemed to absorb the booms going on outside, making them sound like nothing much but someone dropping a heavy pan to a bare floor or something close to that.

"Rocky, what about the shooting though. Did you find the person doing it?" Tum tum asked.

"No. I think they might be in a deeper part of the mansion by now. Those doors led me into a dining room."

"Oh." Tilting his head back, Tum tum takes in the expansion of the place. Its enormous! He can't image what the rest of the place must look like.

Pilars hold the frame to the large staircase that runs up either side of the upper floor, and 2 catwalks are at the top from there. A huge window is boxed in by 2 big paintings beside it. Tum tum stood up and walked up four more stairs for a better look. He can see that to his right is another set of double doors, and to his left is a single door. He can't tell what's beyond that because from the height he's standing the back end is blocked by the biggest chandelier he's ever seen.

"Wow." He muttered before returning to his seat beside his brothers.

"Rocky, we can't wait here forever. Maybe Dad found a back way in and he's looking for us. We should go find him." Colt insist.

Shaking his head, Rocky cast an unsteady glance at the dining room doors again. "No. We'll sit here."

"But who knows how long it will be before anyone finds us. We should go and look for the people who own this place."

He knew that his brother was past the point of figity, its Colt's way. When he sits too long he has to get up and go somewhere, anywhere or he'll explode.

"Colt, I think that waiting here is the best idea for right now. At least another hour."

"Another hour! Rocky, come on!"

Tum tum listened to his brothers argue for a moment, and when the time seemed right he made sure to be loud enough to be heard when he butted in. "Guys, I guess this would be a bad time to mention that I have to pee?"

There, Tum tum had Rocky. Rats.


	2. Invincible Men

A.N: I read your review thinking, love interest? Crud, how am I gonna swing that? But I found a way and I'll happily do it, but you have to decide between Rocky or Colt. I could just leave it up to the extras- few as they are, they can still be in love with each other haha. Thanks for the review, and thanks all you guys for reading. I hope you enjoy this story. Making up dailog is kind of tough because the game is done alone for nearly all of it, but little by little I'm finding ways to put words in. I'll be moving in a matter of weeks I think, so I don't know when the next update will be.

...

The rain pelted down on the windows so hard it sounded as if one patter would be strong enough to eventually shatter the glass beneath its strength. The raging storm was dulled considerably in volume when they moved to the other side of the main hall where Rocky was sure they weren't going to run into that monster, which at the moment is seen to him as an invincable being. How could the fire not have killed it? How could the crack to the skull leave hardly an impact on the ghoul? It almost seemed that it didn't feel it!

But Rocky wasn't about to allow his brother to pee on himself, and he wasn't adventurous enough to head upstairs just yet. So better to stick to ground level, should their father really come running through those large oak door. Its strange that they haven't heard from him since they got separated. The only lucky break they managed to have was that, being a ninja, they came prepared for battle without even knowing there would be one. Meaning, they have their survival knives attached to their ankles. Rocky insisted they hold onto to them ready to attack; his lie was that a window had been broken and one of those hellhounds had gotten in. His brother's were not going to argue the instruction.

The double doors at their left had another smaller door beside it to its left; Tum Tum tried it believing it to be the bathroom, but the door was locked. So the decision was made for them. The doors swung open with a sound creeeak. Keeping their cover, they closed the doors after they've entered. The room was a masterpiece- if one wanted to be puny. The walls right and left are litered with paintings large and small, but they're all so intricately painted, so priceless and rare that they alone could buy a man five more houses just as grand as this one. Its amazing! Whomever lives here must be basking in complete luxury day by day. Colt wouldn't be surprised if they ate from solid gold flatware. In the center of the room sat a well sculpted statue of a woman holding a watering jug. But there's something else...

"What's that piece of paper rolled up there?" Tum tum pointed.

"Don't know." Colt tilts his head back trying to get a better look. There's a large slip of paper, rolled up like a map sitting in the statues watering pot.

"Can you reach it?" Tum tum raised a hand, making a little leap for the paper. He didn't even come close.

"Can't get it by jumping, that's for sure." Colt informed. "Maybe if we stand on that cabinet over there." He points to a medium height piece of furniture that looks like it would hold bottles of wine or some expensive nick-nacks. "Gimme a hand."

Colt and Tum tum found their way over to the piece of furniture, whomever lived here would have a fit if they knew what a couple of punk kids were doing to their priceless room-fillers, but who really cared when curiousity led the way. Rocky, however, remained on high alert. It was so weird to see their brother so high strung. Rocky was always calm in the face of anything, and if he weren't he surely never showed it. He's hiding something, and while busy moving their assistant into place, Colt wondered exactly what it was.

"Can you reach it now?" Tum tum asked still down by the floor, hand secured on his brother's leg as if he'd fall without him.

"Yeah, I've got it." Colt's already unrolling the thing by shaking it out with one hand, while the other is planted atop his little brother's shoulder while he allows himself to be helped down.

"Is it a treasure map?" Tum chided. "Because with all the loot on display it would be kind of pointless." He chuckled.

"No... its blueprints. See." He hands it over to the little guy.

"Blueprints?" His nose scrunches in thought.

"Maybe they were doing some renovating, builders could have left it here." Rocky guessed. Though it was strange to leave the roll of paper in the arms of a statue so high up. "This is a good thing actually, we can use this to take us to the bathroom so we're not searching this place for hours. Then we can get back to the main hall." He takes the map from Colt's hands.

Not about to let his brother's behavior slide this time, Colt follows him, with Tum Tum in tow, over to a door off to the right. "Rocky? What's with you anyway? You've been acting weird since we got in here. It isn't just paranoia from those dogs... you saw something in that dining room, didn't you?"

Leave it to Colt not to keep his mouth shut. Rocky sighed thoughtfully, wondering just how to approach the subject. Turning the door knob, he takes a step through the door into a long hallway. White walls and a polished floor greet them. A large chandelier hangs over head and oversized windows are lined around the corner. Some large table desks againt the wall, much like the wine holder from the room they're walking out of. Tum tum heard it, but didn't comment on the sound of rustling from behind them- or maybe beside them? It was very hard to tell. Either way once the door had closed the sound ultimately stopped. Making their way through the hall, Rocky remained silent on the matter as they rounded the corner and just when Colt was ready to push it further to get his answer a window breaks in behind them.

"What the-..?" Colt spun around, wide-eyed he gasps seeing one of those mangled dogs leaping through the window, followed by another. "Shit!" He braced himself when the dogs charged, survival knife raised up at his neck to protect his vitals where he knew the leaping dog was aiming for.

Rocky stepped in front of his brother, protecting him from the surprise attack, slashing at the beast leaving it whimpering as a long gash to its eyes shot blood across the room and against the clean beautiful walls. But that didn't keep the other hellhound at bay and it clamped onto Rocky's forearm dragging him down to his knees.

"Rocky!" Colt called out. Helping his brother out by slicing into the snarling biting animals back, he's glad to see that his rear is covered by Tum tum who is making waste of the blinded dog thats begun bumping its head into the wall as if a knock to the head would regain its eyesight.

The dog howled in pain from the erratic carving job Colt is giving its backside, with Rocky released it spun around to grab at him instead. But the young wild ninja was too quick for it, and he shoved his knife up under the dogs chin. It was strange because for the strength the hellish mutt has, the knife stuck into it as though it were made of wet paper. Granted paper with a bit of give but paper all the same. Both dogs were taken care of in a haste for self preservation and it wasn't until the last twitch stilled in their legs did it really sink in about what's happened. They killed them. They killed the dogs. It was hard to comprehend though not entirely, they'd do anything for one another that much was sure. But as far as killing, the line had never presented itself to be crossed. But here it was, wasn't it? Their dad shot them, killed them. But that was in his job description, he even was trained not to resort to such an act unless it was absolutely necessary. But as ninjas, even regarding animals- maybe moreso regarding animals- you use it to defend and protect. Not to harm. But was it ninja? Or was it instinct both to protect their loved one and to live?

"A dog didn't break in," Rocky's voice hard but calm broke through their frightened pants. "There was a man... he... he wasn't human. At leat, he wasn't behaving that way."

"What do you mean?" Tum asked; all but forgetting that he had to use the restroom. He must have missed his chance.

"There was someone lying on the floor, he was... he was dead." Rocky stood on shaking legs; craddling his bitten arm against his stomach, his free hand helped to wrap the bottom of his shirt around it and hold it there. The bite was bad and he'd need some gauze. With any luck there'd be supplies in the bathroom. "And the man leaning over him... he was" Rocky couldn't believe it himself, and he had seen it. But to say it out loud? Was harder than telling Emily he didn't like her in that way.

"What?" Colt insisted. He hated being left in the dark, about anything. And if they were all in, they had to be in on the same level. He'd just killed for Rocky, the least he could do was offer the information he's withholding.

"He was eating him." He concluded. He received the looks he thought he would over the matter, first disbelief then realization once the fact that the starving dogs laid out on the floor factored into play. What the hell is going on here? "I thought that I killed it but... it got back up- and I can assure you, I did everything imaginable to the guy... but before I came back into the main hall I heard a door close behind me. It got up and left."

"And you're saying that thing may still be wandering around the house somewhere?" Tum tum successfully terrified asked.

Rocky could only nod. He felt ashamed that he held back in telling them. But neither seemed upset at him. They actually could understand, they wouldn't know how to say it either. "We'd better keep moving, though. Tum tum you can use the bathroom and we'll stand watch. Hopefully there'll be some medical supplies in there so I can wrap my arm." Shaking hands hand over the blueprints to Colt. "I noticed there was a bathroom just beyond this door, can you lead the way?"

Rocky wouldn't willingly give up position as leader unless something was really wrong. The bite must be more painful than he'd thought. He wasn't going to be able to act accordingly either should they come across the invincible-man either. Nodding, Colt takes the roll of paper. "Come on." He takes the leader position with some hesistation, but he won't let his brother down. "Tum tum, you get in back incase we have to cover that area. They snuck up on us before they might do it again." He threw a glance at the broken-in window. Smiling when receiving a thumbs up from his younger brother, Colt opened the door at the end of the hall and led the way through.

This place, really, its like a lavish funhouse. No room matches with another, and yet it doesn't clash. Its as if each space were decorated for the sheer vanity of the space itself. Kind of like asking twins to decorate a room using the same materials and yet somehow they come out different, yet beautifully the same. To elaborate the point, the granet white floor that doned the first two rooms turned into hardwood. They're in another hallway. Only this one has a few more twist and turns to it than a simple stage-left as the previous hall. The walls are a soft yellow, there's large pantings on the wall, light fixtures brightening the way from what could have been a darkened hall lit up only by the flashes lights of the storm raging outside.

"Cool place, but we're gonna have to do something about all this big windows. We're sitting ducks if those dogs keep spotting us." And this was Tum tum. Leave it to him to break tension with a well placed comment.

He's very right though, they'll have to do something about the windows or at least they should kill the lights so they're not so easily seen. But Colt had other things on his mind as they make a left passing a large piece of furniture that holds plates and glassware like this hall would lead them somewhere near a kichen. But knowing the home owners this was purely the priceless antics that cost quite a bit of money, and eating off of them would be sin.

"Here we go." He announced when a singlular door came up. "Bathroom, let it rip boy."

"Wait. Check inside first, we don't know if the invincible man isn't in there." Rocky looked grim but his voice sounded the same. They really need to wrap that arm.

Cracking the door, knife clutched tightly in his grip, Colt peeks inside the bathroom. "Hello?" Surely if someone were inside they would move at the sound of a voice. But there was nothing. "Its clear, go on in."

Tum tum didn't need to be told twice as his need to relieve himself came back tenfold. The small bathroom despite the grandure of the rest of the place was just a simple bathroom- minus the lovely marble floor and an expensive looking rectangular mirror hanging over the sink. Also marble- the large counter around the porcelian dip. He's surprised the faucets aren't made of gold. Colt went to work looking beneath the cabinets to locate something to wrap Rocky's arm. Thankfully, there was a large first-aid kit beneath the sink.

"Here we go." Opening the case, he pulls out a white can with green lettering that read: first-aid disinfectant. And boy how he hoped this stuff worked. Because Rocky looked miserable. Smirking, despite the possibly dire situation he had to lighten the mood somehow, he asked. "Want me to count to three sweetie or would you rather I do it like a band-aid."

Rocky offered his brother, and his brother's motherly voice a sour glare. "Just spray me." He said holding out his pained arm. His shirt was nearly soaked through with blood.

"I love when they play brave." Colt muttered doing as he was told, and almost delighting in the way his brother cringed.

It served him right for getting so pissy. Bad as the situation was, he had to keep a clear head and moping just wouldn't do. Oh my God. And suddenly Colt understood why his brother was so... driven... straight forward? Yeah that sounds right. He wanted to get things done and leave out all the rest. There would be time enough once they got out. Huh? And all it took to understand his brother was to be given power for what... three minutes? Sweet. And his mind just gained a level- but then video games is more Rocky's foretay as well. Next thing you know he'll develope a love of science and all things sharp and pointy, or rounded and blunt. Rocky loved when they worked with weapons at Grandpa's. He preferred hands personally. And Tum well, he's more tactical weapons and enviroment than real hands-on. Phew. All this new knowledge was making his head spin. Being Rocky is too much of a roller coaster and he can't wait to get off and give the front seat back to his older brother.

Wrapping the arm in gauze once he'd cleaned it, Colt gave it a gentle pat before declaring. "Done. Now take two asprins for the pain, and call me in the morning."

Smiling, Rocky muttered his thanks then test out the movement of his arm. It felt alright. Colt did a good job.

"You guys should go too so we don't have to double back anytime soon." Tum tum announced as he came to wash his hands, booting his brothers aside.

"Yeah." Rocky agreed going over first. The toilet is thankfully hidden around a small corner, so across from the sink is a curtain covered bathtub. He really wondered why he hadn't given that little detail about the shower curtain much thought until now. Hn. Maybe it has to do with that little paranoia of having his back exposed to the unknown for too long. As alert as ninjas could be, they can also develope paranoid habits because of it. But then he has his brothers to watch his back so he let the matter ease away.

Studying the tub, which is filled with a murky filthy water, Colt called over his shoulder to Rocky. "Don't bother flushing I'll do it when I'm done."

Scrunching his nose, Rocky replied. "Colt that's disgusting."

"No different than flushing when someone forgets back at home."

"Yeah, only difference is," The sound of zipping fills the air. "you flush before you use it." He walks around the corner to wash his hands.

"Makes no difference to me." Colt answered back turning away from the tub. Who could have been that filthy, and then leave the nasty muck water behind like that? Could have been their invincible man? Or maybe someone else who got stranded out here, chased by those hellhounds and just made themselves comfortable because they haven't yet found the homeowners. Worse. The place could be abandoned until the construction is finished- if construction is going on. Unzipping, he relieves himself then flushes the toilet. Hopefully they'll be out of here by daylight, with their dad.

Rocky and Tum tum wait by the door for Colt to finish washing his hands. They haven't heard a sound from beyond the door, which meant nothing had gotten in since they've entered and no one has come through the hall. Not an owner, not that invicible man, not their dad. Its such a strange place. Leaving the bathroom, same order as before with Colt in front and Rocky in the middle, Tum Tum bringing up the rear.

"Wait!" Rocky held out his hand to stop them; funny how even when not in control he held it. "Shouldn't we be going back to the main hall?" He wondered as if just running down the reasons why. "We have no reason to go any farther into this place than was necessary. Bathroom breaks have been taken care of, I'm pretty sure no one is hungry-.." He didn't stop himself in time. He cast a quick glance over at his little brother who mostly certainly was always in snack mode. But Tum tum shook his head as if reading Rocky's mind. Good. "Let's just go wait for dad."

Colt shook his head easily. "With that guy still roaming around one room away from us? No thanks. Besides," He turns the corner up ahead. "maybe we'll run into the owners of this place and we can ask them for help. Better yet, we may find a phone."

"Colt's got a point." Tum tum chimed in.

Nodding, Rocky realized he couldn't argue with that logic and took a step ahead around the corner as well.

"Three doors... you wanna decide?" Colt asked while casting a scrutinizing eye over a solid looking green door, a single wooden door at their right, and to the left of that door are large double doors, that no doubt lead into another hall way.

"Its likely that that green metal door leads outside, and we can't risk going back out there with Kujo and family prowling around." Rocky could feel the sting in his arm, even if presently it no longer hurt. "The double doors may lead to a hall, which we'll end up going through either way, so-..."

Cutting in, Colt says. "Single door it is." Turning a bit, he walks up to the door pulling it open. "After you." He gestured to beyond the door.

This place truly was more unbelievable as they went through it. The door led them to a tiny little space, a perfect square of a room that held absolutely nothing within it but another door across from the one opened to the hall. Nothing to do but go inside. Survival knives poised, the three ninjas creep over to the door and with Rocky holding it open, Colt and Tum tum enter. But the room is empty. Its a small office with a loveseat against the west wall, a fire place on the northern wall. A coffee table and thrown rug over the gleaming wood floor. The rug looked expensive and knowing this place it probably cost more than their lives put together. Another lavish painting hung above the fireplace, but the thing that caught Colt's eye was the shotgun hooked to the wall.

"Guys, check this out." Colt moved through the room quickly, his feet marking their place with loud thumps against the wooden floor.

"A shotgun? Cool." Tum tum huddled close to his brother who removed the firearm with the brown and gold finishes from a display-case where it rest on two thick hooks. Tum tum hopped from foot to foot like a deranged ballerina as Colt swung the weapon about the room like he were taking aim at some unseen enemy. "Alright killer. Put that thing down." Tum shoved the nozzle of the gun down at the floor.

"Rocky, look. Let's see that invincible man stand up to this puppy." He held it into view for Rocky. Noticing that his brother seemed bothered by something, he asked. "What's up?"

"I'm not sure but..." He cocks his head, dual colored eyes stare intensely at the high-high ceiling in the tiny square hall. "I think something unhinged in the ceiling..." Shaking his head as if the thought were ridiculous, he waved an arm over his shoulder. "Bring the gun with you, and let's get out of here." He just couldn't explain it, but that ceiling made him uncomfortable. Maybe its being unused to the luxury of one that's up so high above his head, or maybe it was that weird sudden grind that haulted before it could even really be figured out as to what it was. But he wanted to go. Now.

"Right." Rocky was freaking Colt out. He could admit that to himself, maybe Tum tum if he whispered it low enough. Having Rocky hear would only have his brother trying to prove that he's fine and that there was no reason to worry about him or be freaked out by his paranoia. Tum tum in tow, he exits the room.

Rocky reached the exit of the hall first and to his surprise the knob didn't budge when he turned it. "What?" He said so to himself it was practically an unheard whisper. "Its locked." He says to his brothers confused faces.

"Locked?" Trying it for himself, Colt couldn't believe it.

_'Was that the sound I heard? An automatic door lock? But what caused it?'_ Rocky wondered.

"I'm gonna shoot it."

"Colt, no." The stern in Rocky's voice was heavy. "If this thing can hurt that guy, we don't need to waste any bullets, plus-..."

"Uuum, guys." Tum tum's panic ceased Rocky's tirade of reasons why and they turned to the younger male. "Look." He pointed up.

The ceiling was coming down on them, slowly, deliberately slowly. Teasing its way along the long wall with intentions. Like a schoolyard bully sizing up the playground before picking its mark. And it chose the three of them.

"Uhh, Rocky?" Colt questioned what to do, knowing the brains of the operation would think up something.

All three children stare up at the approaching doom, the monster sliding through the tunnel, large enough to block out all and any view behind it. Grissly enough to do what it threatens to do and more. Their hearts were pounding painfully in their chest. Colt actually got so panicked he thought that maybe shooting it would have some sort of effect. It was in that action that Rocky realized when the sound had come, sometime when Colt pulled that gun from the wall. Its the gun! Its like a trap or something!

"Colt! The gun! Put it back on the hook- quick!"

He only needed to be told once, and he was off and running back through the little sitting room.

"Colt, hurry!" And that was Tum tum. The ceiling was inches from Rocky's head now causing his brother to crouch instantly.

Colt replaced the gun on its hooks. He heard such a loud sound after that, his eyes widened in absolute panic. Had doing this only made it worse? "Guys?" He shouted louder than he should have, but fear elevated his voice. "Guys?" He called again before dashing to the exit of the room and finding his brothers slumped against the wall, ragged breaths puffing up and down waiting for calm. Colt could have collapsed himself.

"It worked." Tum tum said, though he didn't need to. Colt could see that the ceiling had returned firmly in place over their heads at its highest elevation.

"So much for protection," Colt looked over his shoulder at the soon to be abandoned firearm. Fuck. They're screwed.

Shaking his head, Rocky stands up on shaking legs commanded to cease by a thought alone. "No. The guy in the hall, the dead one, he had a gun in his hand- I'm sure of it. Between the three of us, we can get it. And if we run into that monster..." He didn't have to say the other part, he just tightened his grip on the handle of the knife.

"Does that mean we're going back to the main hall?" Tum stands, grabbing his brother's arm for help up; his legs weren't so easily coaxed out of shaking.

"Yeah." He hoped that they'd even get lucky and that monster wasn't anywhere around. It seemed the sound was an electronic latch for the door because it opened now.

Maybe it had felt pain and it was off somewhere licking its wounds. It was unlikely, the thing was almost... out of it. Unaware. Zombie. No brain. No feeling beyond a carnal need to eat. If that's the case this is more frightening than he would have figured it to be. How do you go up against an undead canibal with ninja skills and a knife? Will cutting vital points be affective? Does it even matter if it suffers from blood loss? Rocky didn't know that they'd soon get their answer as they pass back through the hall and spot tracks on the floor leading down to where they're headed. Murky, sludge colored tracks, and the pattern it laid was unusual. One footprint and the other... it looked like a drag mark.

"You don't think..." Colt started to say but was cut off by a low hissing sound up ahead of them.

All three boys shot their attention to where the sound had resonated from, knives poised to strike, but none too self assured to race on ahead and be taken by surprise. They have to play this smart or they'd suffer with more injuries than just a bite on the arm. The low raspy moan sent chills up and down Tum tum's spine, and he could hardly remain where he stood when the first rotted and damp foot came around the corner. And it looked like death had become this creature. Mold clung to its wet dripping body, his clothes were tattered as if it had been through a nasty struggle. And its throat clucked just then as if it were trying to speak but the words were no longer able to formulate muchless come out coherantly. Then through that chopping sound came a low hard moan, and it lunged at them. It seemed to be after Rocky specifically. Its hard, blind focus solely on the blood stain on the ninjas shirt.

Rocky, eyes wide and panic radiating, he readied himself for another incounter with a horrible creature. "Guys, go for vital places," He instructed his brothers. "just like with the practice dummy." His knife swung out, slicing at the air in the zombie-like monster's direction.

It took a cut to the chest, the long gash spewed blood like he were still a fresh living human. Rocky saw this, and through his panic hazed mind he wondered just how long this man had been dead? Days, weeks, years... or hours? The latter gave him absolute terror. This entire place could be crawling with zombies from that one man having broken in and biten them, eaten at them. The family would never see it coming. Did the zombie in the dining room break in through a door or window as the dogs had? Did the homeowners see it and scream, no way of defending theirselves beyond running and hiding, only to be found almost by heat-seeking senses? It sounded so ridiculous that it couldn't possibly not be the truth. If they find any of the homeowners, is this what they'll have to face time and again? These zombies? The dark skinned bleeding creature staggered forward intending to throw itself on Rocky since the ninja seemed to be hard to get at by just reaching for him. Its already taken several nasty slashes to the palms and fingers in its lust.

Colt voiced his round kick, which connected with the zombie's mouth. Rocky had said hand-to-hand combat would not work, but it cleared the board with getting the damned thing to back off. And it staggered and fell back against the door frame of the bathroom after bumping its shoulder against the wall. Leg raised up straight into the air, straight enough that if he were on the floor he'd be doing the splits, Tum tum dropped his heel into the monster's face. It was disgusting at how easily one of its blind eyeballs sank into its head, before the blood filling up in the socket bobbed the appendage back into view. Rocky was right, these damned things were invicible, and it proved it by reaching out to the grab the youngest ninja's leg to take a chomp out of it.

Tum Tum cried out in surprise and waited for the pain to come, but Rocky had the thing straddled and with his sharpened, double-edge survivor's knife he stabbed the monster in the neck, cutting open an artory, the main artory to be precise. Thank you very much, health classes. Rocky ripped into the blood-thirsty bastards neck with wild abandon, he didn't stop slabbing until the undead enemy's neck hung by nothing more than its spine which was only nicked by the knifes tip. He swallowed hard when it stopped thrashing beneath his hips. Ran the back of his hand across his face to remove its soggy watered down blood.

Colt and Tum tum looked surprised if not a little worried at the force their brother had used, but after all Rocky had faced one before and he knew what it took to take it down it seemed because it certainly was not getting back up once their brother removed himself from it.

"Is it dead?" Tum Tum kicked a curious foot against the things- now- bobbled head.

"I think so." Rocky glared at it hard though, as if daring it to get up. But after a minute, when it did not, he gave his brother's a thumbs up. "I think we're good. Come on, let's get to the dining room."

Colt, despite wanting leader status, was glad that his brother was back to normal and ready for action. If they're gonna be stuck here, whether it be for the doration it took to find the homeowners or a phone, or if they simply were waiting out their father to come through the front doors, or even a back door, or window, it didn't matter. They need their brother at his best.

"Why did that thing come after you? It seemed pretty hell-bent just then." Colt wondered as he studied the now-dead undead. The thing truly is disgusting. Its teeth are broken out. Thanks to Tum tum, one blind-eye is still bobbing about in the blood filled eye socket.

"Maybe it was drawn to the blood on you shirt, Rocky." Tum tum suggested pointing out the large stain of blood on his brother's stomach from the dog bite.

Disgusted, Rocky removed his shirt tossing it to the floor. He was glad he thought it would be cold in the forest, otherwise he'd be completely shirtless rather than have the grace of his black tank-undershirt. "Hopefully it didn't bleed through." Though he was sure it hadn't. His shirt had been thick enough. Thank you very much paranoia of cold, and bug bites. "Let's keep moving."

The three travel cautiously back to the main hall. Rocky told them about what he'd been thinking, about how these things could be all over the place and how they could have attacked the homeowners that lived here. Very well the workers who left the blueprints in the statue. Nothing could be taken to chance.

"At least we know one thing," Says Tum tum as they're peeking into the dining room. "if these people were killed, it was recently. I don't think those things have the capacity to light a fire."

His brother's agreed to that with a nod.

"Wow. This place sure is nice." Tum tum really seemed to appreciate the dining room for him to voice the obvious. This entire mansion was probably gorgeous to a fault.

"Man, what the hell is that smell?" Colt was breathing in such a way it seemed he was trying to push air out of his nostrils.

"Don't know, it didn't smell like this before." Rocky replied. He felt his nerves pricking as they got closer to the door at the end of the room. This was it. He isn't as nervous now though, since they seem to have found a way to at least keep the things down if not killed. He glanced at his brothers to give them the signal to get ready for the attack.

But when the door was pushed open they were surprised to find that it bumped into something before it shoved open the rest of the way, even more surprised to find that that something was a crispy fried zombie.

"What do you think happened?" Asked Tum tum, not about to touch it, he poked it with his knife.

"His head was lit up, but he still managed to walk away."

"I guess the flames engulfed the rest of him. This guy is out." Colt looked impressed. But he was also hoping that fire wasn't the only way to defeat the things, they couldn't exactly lure them all into the dining room to take a bath in the fireplace.

"Guys... I think he was a cop. Look at this," Rocky showed them the man's blood stained uniform.

His brother's gazes avoid the bitten through neck as they focus on the bullet proof vest reading: F.B.I a familiar sight to them.

"Why would they have been here?" Colt asks. "I'm guessing it wasn't a costume party. This gun is real." He's studying the Bereta handgun he picked up from the floor. It was laying in a pool of the man's blood.

Searching the body, Rocky found another handgun strapped to the man's leg. He's seen his father place his extra handgun there all the time. It was better that there were only two, he doesn't want his little brother in charge of firearms just yet. They'll protect him, and themselves. And with renewed energy, Rocky stands from his crouch. "I think we should make sure there isn't anyone else alive in this house, and search for a phone to call for help. The F.B.I wouldn't send just one man, they'd have a partner with them."

And Rocky would know since he's dying to become an agent when he's older. He hoped they were still alive somewhere. Who only knew how big this place was. The blueprints alone were impressive with the first floor, but what about upstairs? Looking over his shoulder, Rocky looked to Tum tum who still has the map with him.

"Where are we right now?" He asked.

"Umm, I'm not sure. But the door behind us leads to a hall and through there are some bedrooms. Should we check their first?" He scrunches the map in his grasp rather than rolling it or folding it up.

"Yeah. Someone could be hiding in there." They walk down the hall about seven steps. Rocky tugged at the door knob. "Its locked."

"Let me see." Colt kneels down before the door to try picking the lock, but it was no use. This side doesn't even have a key hole. If they're gonna get inside they'll have to do it from some other way. "What about down there?" Colt points.

"Hmm, looks like it could be a bedroom, we can always check."

Heading down the hall, they try the knob for that door as well, and like before its locked. Damn. Checking, Colt finds the keyhole and makes quick work of it, pushing the door open for his brother's to enter. Rocky went in first, gun steady in his grip ready to fire if needed. But there was no one inside. At least not in plain sight.

"Hello?" He called. It remained quiet. "Its empty."

"Let's look around anyway, we may find something usefull." And by usefull Colt's attention was at the bar at the west end of the room. Bottles of liqour shine polished and pristine, ready to be uncorked and drank. But drinking it isn't what has the ninja smiling, making a molotov cocktail is. All they need is a lighter and something to stick inside to be lit. "Maybe we could tear up Rocky's shirt for fuse lines." He says when holding a 1638 bottle of red wine.

"Maybe." Tum tum's finger drops onto a piano key. The noise resonated throughout the small lounge room. Is it a man cave? He wondered. A bar, piano. Shelves with books. Plus the painting of a naked lady might be a clue as a woman wouldn't find it all that great to look at. A leather sofa sits along the wall where the door is, and little naked statues adorn the corners of the room. Aside from whatever Colt wanted the liqour for, the room was useless. "We should keep moving, we don't wanna sit for too long if those things really are moving around the house."

"Yeah." Rocky agreed.

Tum tum's eyes are on the map now as they exit the room. "We can go upstairs. I vote right side, we were heading that way anyway."

"Well if you're saying right side, I'm saying left side."

"Right." Tum shot back.

"Left!" Snapped Colt.

"Flip a coin so we can go." Rocky groaned, rolling his eyes to the ceiling.

Removing a quarter from his pants pocket, Tum hands it to Rocky. "You do it. I don't trust this guy."

"Fine." Positioning the coin, once its caught he says. "Call it."

"Heads." Tum replied leaving Colt with tails.

"Its tails," Rocky announced ignoring his brother's 'yes' of victory. "Can we go?"

"After me." Colt waltzed out of the door.

The storm hammered away at the house, it only seemed to be getting worse as the rumbles of thunder shook the window panes. The lights in the hall blinked brightly before burning out completely. The hall, thankfully, wasn't leaving them in too much darkness. The large windows at the end of it lit it up for them every so often by illuminating the flashes of lightning like a demented flash light picking and choosing when to turn on. They were just about to enter the dining hall when they hear a loud scream...


	3. Grim Reality

A.N. 3ninjasfan eeeeee! Its you haha, sorry I just hoped that you were reading cause you wanted to see this done and now I've got the time. All that other stuff was giving me cases of the sadness so I went back to basics... well, sort of because of the game aspect. Which will somewhat act as a walkthrough for when you get yours. I hope you like it as much as I do, get the remake of the first one and number 4 they're both for wii right now but you can order gamecube's from online. And your story so pleases its not even funny. I just love it. You remind me of zombie lust for blood. First time I saw this game my older brother was playing, he said he didn't like it because he couldn't walk and I had to get in there and show him I rock! haha. I'm gonna have 1 more zombie story with this oooor 2 after this. I'm not sure. But doing a Silent Hill 3 ninjas would be a fun thought for the future.

thank you guys for reading, and reviewing. Umm, if you can find it still at Youtube the movie mentioned in this chapter is adorable, you should definitely check it out.

...

Jessica Douglas, deep down, has always wanted a girl. A daughter she can go shopping with, a daughter that she can look over and try recipes with, and a daughter that she can pamper herself with. Which is why she found herself at _Heaven's Hands_ with Patsy Heart's daughter, and friend of the family really, Emily. The blonde girl was still on Jessica's wish list as a possible bride for her son Rocky, but she never let on. Nothing worse than pressuring your children into something. But she can always oversee the progress of their 'should be' relationship. Right?

"Thanks for bringing me along Mrs. Douglas," Says the girl. She says it every summer really. Coming to this spa is kind of their secret thing while the boys are with her father at his cabin, and Sam is working away. Only difference this summer is...

"I can't believe I let you talk me into coming here." Mori says, blinking disapproving eyes at the interior of the spa place. "I should be keeping myself fit for emergencies. Not lounging around in some..." He silenced when one of the employees went by, then spoke in whisper. "flower shop."

Smiling, Jessica took the offered towels, handing one to the young girl and her father. "Daddy you've been to hot springs resorts back home."

"That's a ryokan, anyone can enjoy those. This... this is _torture_." He follows the two into the showering area but pauses before going into the mens. "At least there I can get a meal."

Jessica had to laugh at that before ushering Emily into the shower with her. "He's just nervous about getting his feet massaged." She whispered.

Emily giggled as she tied her long blonde hair into a bun.

...

The mud bath was wonderful. Hot and muscle relaxing, just what the contractor needed after long hours in the office. Emily had her own personal knots to work through as well with stress relief from school, summer fitness- which she and Jessica have already attetended a class this morning; Mori excluded with that since it was a female class. And guy troubles. She just can't seem to keep Rocky interested. Mori... was asleep. It would seem the elderly ninja had a few knots as well for someone who had to keep their body "fit for emergencies".

"I always liked it when you kids played tea party together," Jessica says on the topic of Rocky. "He seemed to like it too."

"Yeah, but Rocky was only in it for the cakes." Replied Emily, eyes closed enjoying the thick hot clay clamped around her.

"Ahaha, typical male behavior. Maybe you could come over and take cooking lessons, have him try it?" Jessica's brown eyes look over at the girl. "He's no Tum tum, but it seems the way to his heart might just lie in food."

"Its the same with every man." Emily loved feeling grown-up with these talks.

"True. Sam tried my teriyaki chicken pot stickers and he said one more meal like that and he'd marry me. So I made him stuffed shells and tomato sauce, you know, show him that I was more than just little bites- I can fatten a man up." She smiled. "He was true to his word, although I'm sure being bilingual played a role in it as well because he wanted to showcase his stuff as well, asked me to marry him in French of all things."

Laughing, Emily asked. "You speak French too?" She wasn't sure if she could learn a language on the fly. She's sort of getting average marks in Spanish class as it is.

"No. I looked it up; and he's lucky I did, otherwise I might have just smiled like and considered it nothing but flirting."

Emily's laugh woke Mori just then, and the man declared that he was official baked and wanted out of the oven.

...

The foot scrub was relaxing, the minerals taking care of the aches on their feet. Mori may have fought it at first, but he enjoyed in the end. The lady giving it to him even flirted a little. The evening ended well, and the 3 glowed as they had a delicious meal at the _Olive Garden_ before the three of them retired at home. Jessica and Mori had a cup of coffee and an ice cream later in the night while watching _The Taste of Tea_ in the master bedroom. When her father was off to bed in the spare room, Jessica got ready for bed herself and for some reason she felt a cold chill run through her. The California weather is always gorgeous, and the temperature in the house is just fine. It left the woman wondering if maybe, just maybe, something were wrong with her husband and sons. ...He has his cell phone. Maybe she should call? No. That would be mothering, and wifing. Better to just leave the men to be men. They'll be fine if anything comes up.

The three boys rush down the hall as quickly as they can, past the bloodied Fed. and through a door, it opened up to a stairwell; the long row of stairs broke off into a small square landing that shot another row up before the floor. They barely had time to notice the small desk holding a very large birdcage, or the two chairs sitting idly beneath the cat-walk-esque hallway. They certainly didn't notice that the few pictures trailing up the stairs anchored to the wall held not one member of the believed to live in the mansion family. They just had lazer focus to get to whomever had screamed. Someone is alive, someone is in trouble; and with their new found knowledge on the situation, someone needed their help.

"Through here!" Rocky alerted them when the door at the end of the hall is pulled open.

A golden yellow glow met their panicked gazes as they glanced ahead of themselves and at their right. Two doors. Two options as to where the scream had come from.

"We could split up?" And that was Colt opting as leader in Rocky's moment of pause.

"I don't think that's the best idea," The older boy pointed down to a body on the floor.

As if it were just put their under Rocky's instruction since neither of them had seen it until pointed out, the wince seeing a rather larage dead body dropped out on the floor as if it had seen better days. His body has blood all over it, his clothes tattered and torn as if someone had Cinderella'd him, like the scene when the step-sisters had seen the usually bedraggled, ash laiden girl in a new dress and they wanted it for themselves and tore it right off of her. The most horrific part of it is not the man's legs, stripped bare of flesh and muscle, but that his head is oversized and looks almost red with how the blood had completely rushed into his skull. Movement at their right made the decision for them, and the three boys went under a large arched doorway; it might have been considered a secret passage as they've never in their lives have come across a knobless door that's a solid mirror on one side.

Making their way down the hall they came to realize that the sound they'd heard was not coming from anyone living, it was coming from one of _them_. A low moan passed out of the large man's mouth. This one wasn't like the other they'd just left in the bend of the hall. It still looks human, save-aside the blind eyes and slack jaw. He'd been bitten terribly on his neck though, that was apparent. _When_ it happened would remain undetermined since the blood was very much dried up and no longer coming out as it should have been were the wound fresh.

"Shi-.." And Rocky tended to chop off the ends of his swears when he caught himself about to do it. Skidding to a stop he aimed the gun and automatically shot off a round from the clip. It missed.

"Rocky?" Colt moved to the forefront, gun clutched and reclutched in his hand; but Rocky kept his brother back and tried again, this time nailing the animated dead man in the chest.

He stumbled heavily; likely that his girth was the main reason for the sudden tilt into the wall behind him. But like the man in the dining room, he kept coming once he recovered. Rocky fired off another round, but it with the man coming at him rather quickly it was sort of hard to get the aim correct. Lowering the firearm Rocky backed away from the reaching man; his zombie-like state more pronounced from that close up. It was Tum tum who took action then, but rather than get close to the oncoming attack, he grabbed a spear from one of the many lifesized armor statues lining the wall placed inside of little divits. The head of the spear came off as if it were a joke in a comedy, and Tum tum knelt down pocketing the head before grabbing another spear; which thankfully held itself together and he hurled it expertly at the offending man's head pinning him to the wall. He swung his arms wildly a moment then died out, his full fat weight removed the spear from the wall as his body dropped to the floor. Dead, for real this time. Funny thing was, he didn't bleed much from the head wound. It spoke volumes as to just how long this has been going on in the home. It was chilling to think that no one was alive in the home; leaving them all to wonder if the person who'd screamed is even alive anymore.

The sight of death seemed to still be unnerving to them as they needed a moment to pull themselves away from the slumped form on the floor.

"Come on." Rocky spoke first, putting them back on track to the task at hand.

Rounding another corner they come to a set of doors, one ahead and one at their right. Looking them over, Rocky chooses the one before them but giving it a tug he finds it locked. Trying the other after turning the lock he cautiously opens the door, but closes it instantly when spotting a rather lively looking man staggering toward it.

"There's one of 'em in there. We should head back and try the other door."

"Not me. I've had enough of this hall." Colt says turning around. "I vote we head back the other way."

"Me too."

Rocky seemed reluctant to move back when they've come so far forward, but he knew it would be better to avoid anymore scuffles for right now. He can still feel his pulse going from just before. "Okay. Let's go back."

Colt was visibly relieved hearing that and started back promptly. Grabbing a spear from one of the suits of armor, he gave a twirl as if it were a bo stick. "That was pretty smooth using one of these Tum tum, I might have to watch out for you during spars."

Smiling, Tum tum shook his head, though he completely agreed that his brother should watch out for his wild card moves. Making their ways back down the hall and out the door, the 3 re-enter the main hall in a hurry. No one, or rather nothing has come through since they'd left each area.

"Which way, guys?" Asked Rocky looking from left to right. Left held 2 doors, one single and a double. Right held 2 doors as well, but both are singles. "If I'm right, the double doors lead to the dining room, the catwalk above it has a walker on it. We should avoid it for right now."

"Killing it on a catwalk would be easier than doing it in a wide hall." Colt made a point.

"You're right." Rocky nods to agree.

"Hey guys, let's take this door." Tum tum points out grabbing the handle to the picture before them.

Or at least it looked like a picture, its as long as a door and solid, polished. Its got a beautiful water color painting on it; the only thing that gives it a door-like quality is the long golden handle which on the door looks like a piece of the golden sandy colored mountain painted on the thing.

Tugging it to him, he smiles at his brother's and says. "Its not locked."

Rocky and Colt exchange looks but follow Tum Tum through the door. They were greeted by wind from outside almost immidiately. Each boy tensed up awaiting the dog mauling they thought would come once they've gone beyond the safety of the walls; safety, sure, when the damned things leapt right through the windows in the hall just because the lights were on and someone was home. Carefully, the 3 crept outside finding that the grounds were empty, but their nerves weren't exactly stilled as they noticed where it was that they've come to. A graveyard.

Rocky took the lead and stepped carefully down the seven stairs leading down to a landing, that lead to another small set of long broad stairs before the graveyard/courtyard. Colt and Tum tum watched from the top of the small balcony. The full spectrum open to them so they can see where maybe their brother cannot. Its dark out, cool for summer. The clouds are thick in the sky moving like slow traffic for the storm to fully pass, even without the moon out, the light fixtures make it easy enough for them to see the area. Everything is murky and mossy from the rain that's thankfully passed.

"Rocky, what d'you see?" Colt asked itching to get down there with him.

"There's a door and a gate," He tugs the iron bars. "Its locked, though." Looking around him, and most importantly listening, he calls up to them. "Its safe, come on."

The 2 hurry down the sets of stairs and to their brother's side; taking in the area for themselves, they follow closely enough as Rocky moved through the small graveyard. It seemed that it stretched on beyond the long iron fence, but they had no desire to scale it to check it out. Instead they walked through to a thin pass that ended with a large slab of cold grey stone; a cherub carved into it is pointing an arrow towards the sky, the other down at the ground. It was strangely beautiful. Something about it was weird though, and Colt wordlessly points it out by sticking his finger into the divet where a spear head should be as the other cherub has. Cocking his head, Tum tum fishes into his pocket for the spear head that fell from the first one he'd picked up. Looking at it now, he noticed that it wasn't colored as the other one. It a dark green jade with a gold trim at the bottom. Reaching up, he shoves it into the space.

"Whoa." They all gasp taking a quick step back from the wall. Its moving. The stone wasn't a solid mass as they thought, it was a thick slab. Like a door. Its movement was amazing, they couldn't even see where the hinges would go.

Not about to be held back again, Colt moved forward and down the stairs with his brothers following. It was an elaborate tomb of sorts. The room is built round in a circle, and four planks hold these odd faces carved in stone. The hidden gears were showing easily in the room; turning away as it held the slab in place. There are flames dancing beyond the walls, throwing horrific shadows all over the room.

"Do you think someone's in there?" Asks Tum tum looking up at a coffin that's chained to the ceiling at four ends, hanging free, not plastered against it.

"I sure as hell don't wanna find out." Colt replied. Stepping further in, he reaches for a purple book stuck inside the wall. Turning it around in his hand, his fingers brush against something on the back of it. "Who would keep a diary down here?" He wonders while passing the book over to Rocky to inspect.

"Psh." Intones the older male looking the book over himself. "I'm guessing someone who knew what was going on out there; maybe he was hiding out down here. It seems pretty safe in comparison." Giving the key a few stabs at the keyhole, Rocky hands the book back to Colt. "This key doesn't fit for this anyway."

"Huh?" A thoughtful sound. Tugging the latch on the book it came open easily enough. "Its not a diary, its just some curse book."

Scrunching his nose, Tum tum asks. "What's a curse book?"

"Says so on the front, but its only got one page filled in talking about some tortured souls and masks that hide their pain."

"Do you think they were talking about this?" Rocky asks from across the cell, touching the stone faces protruding from the wall. "All of them are missing something: a mouth, a nose, eyes..." Looking over his shoulder at his brothers, he continues. "Maybe there's a secret door around in here, and if we return the mask to these faces we'll find it. The cell was closed, but no one was in here."

Having said that, all 3 shot a look up at the coffin hanging from the ceiling. No one alive was in here it seemed. But the coffin could be empty.

"In any case, this key might just be for the house. We came across a bunch of locked doors, maybe it opens some of them?" He's already on his way out of the tiny prison.

Colt shot one last glance over his head at the hanging coffin, an odd ominous feeling came over him but he shook it off quickly following after his brothers.

"Colt, do you think you can pick the lock on this gate?"

Colt shook his head. "It'll have to be from the other side."

Tum tum tried sticking his hand through the fence but had little success at doing so. Other side it is then. Trudging back up the stairs, the 3 pass through the descrete door. A key burning a hole in Rocky's palm he chooses the side of the upper floor where there are two single doors. Giving the one just off the landing a tug, Rocky finds it's locked and as a test shoves the key inside. He flashed his brothers a smirk that it worked before pushing the door open. The hush said it all as they stepped into yet another gorgeous hall. Violet red wallpaper with a decorative gold design runs along the top half while the bottom is covered with a wooden framing planked off as if the wall is bare down there. A runner lines the center of the hall exposing dark wooden floors beneath it. Random tiny side tables are here and there, a curtain, parted in the center, is tied off on either sides of the doorway. So this is how the rich fill their homes. They were sure if the home were theirs it would be empty hall, after empty hall and only the rooms would be furnished.

Tum tum brushed his fingers on a tiny plate stuck onto a holder. "They could use a butler;" He shows them his finger tip. "this stuff is really dusty."

"Yeah, and I'm starting to get a sick feeling the further we go." Rocky said mostly to himself.

Rounding the corner ignoring a door at their right from when they'd entered the hall in the first place, they come to another door; double, dark blue green. Ignoring it, Rocky pressed on with Tum tum following. Colt held back long enough to inspect the door. He noticed a tiny little etching over the lock is a suit of armor. Damn this place is fancy. Shaking his head is disbelief at some peoples living-luck, he follows after his brothers.

Tum tum tapped his finger against a 2x4 piece of wood just sort of hanging out on a side table. Rocky turned the lock over to open access to wherever it lead, but he continued on by to the door at the very end of the hall. The way he saw it, they might as well start from the end and back. Turning the knob, he walks through the doorway with a careful eye. Waving an arm to signal his brothers in with him, he waits for them to pass before closing the door. It was better to have them shut so that nothing got the drop on them.

"Do you think everyone in this place has turned into one of those things?" Tum tum asks while looking over a chessboard, he picks up a funny looking whistle that was resting on it. Seemed he was developing a bit of thievery while being in this place as he can hardly keep his hands to himself. "Hey guys, look. A clip." He picks up the magazine of bullets holding it out for his brothers to see. "Do either of you want it?"

"Rocky should take it, he's lost more than me." Colt replied while heavily distracted looking over the items on the desk at the other side of the room. It would seem this room is a study of sorts. Over where his brothers are are two large bookshelves covered with books on this and that, but the theme of them seemed to be Botany. Colt backed off instantly, that's more Rocky's speed than his own.

As if telepathically, his brother moved to where he's standing to have a look at the book. Thumbing through the pages, he moves it away from his view when a few leaves came falling out of it and onto the circle pedistool table the book was set on. Watching his brother studying the book for the briefest second, Colt's attention honed in on an expensive looking gold lighter. Flipping it open then closed on repeat, he looks around the room a bit more.

Sniffing a blue herb, a red, then the green; Rocky sets them back down onto the table top. "Listen to this," He continued speaking when his brothers attention was on him. "its a book about healing herbs, and in the back are notes from whomever was reading up on it. They've been trying to create herbs that can act as medicine stronger than any pill on the market. Its organic remedies." Lifting the green one from the table, he says off-handedly. "they even smell good."

"Yeah but, you're not gonna eat that... Its experimental, right?"

"It was. They've perfected it; it says so right here." Holding up the red one next, Rocky adds almost in awe. "The red one doesn't do anything alone, but mixed with a green one it can be strong enough to seal a wound off completely. Its amazing!"

Tum tum smiled at his brother's nerd moment while eyeing a letter to someone named Timothy. It said that if he wanted the real key the dog on the upper balcony has it in his collar, and to blow the whistle to call the dog over. The one in the room is false, and placed their to keep intruders away. "I'm not sure this place is a home at all," He said.

But before he could go on, his words were startled silent as a loud bang popped into the other door in the room. The bang was loud and continuous. Whatever was out there, wanted in, _badly_.

"You don't think that...?" Colt took a step back.

The door creaked and the banging became a bit more erratic and all over the place. It would seem their attacker had a friend now. The door creaked again and the knob rattled.

"Run, run!" Rocky darted over to the door they'd come through in the first place, his brothers weren't far behind him. Re-entering the hall, they hurried through the door that Rocky had unlocked before they'd entered the other room.

It was like someone were playing a sick joke on them as they entered another stairwell, and seven feet ahead of them stand the zombies banging on the door of the room they'd only just left. The dead men's focus was honed as they hadn't yet noticed the 3, but the moment Tum Tum sucked in a breath it was like a switch had gone off and the two turned their way. Low scraping groans filled the air and the dead men came bustling their way. Would they ever get used to the frightening sight? These skinny sunken in things coming at their with hunger in their eyes, bad breath, parts of their body missing from where they've been partially eaten. Tum tum turned green when the tallest of the two slipped on its own intestines falling to the floor.

"Tum, get down." Rocky ordered. When the younger boy ducked down, Rocky fired off a round into the zombie that was still on his feet.

He fell with all his dead weight, the loud thump made louder by what sounded like a door closing to add to its noise. Fuck. Was there a hoard of them in this hall? They probably hear the commotion and wanna join the party. Where are they all coming from? The one on the floor is crawling towards Tum tum, gurgling on its own blood, chin thudding against the floor, fingers scraping, body slippery in its dark red mess.

Not to be left out, Colt fired into the head of the man on the floor; he took notice to how the other one hadn't gotten up and was bleeding out all over the place. 3 more were making their way around the corner up ahead!

"Rocky..." Colt alerted him.

"I see them-" Rocky yelped when a pair of bony hands grabbed him from behind. The grip squeezed like a vice; the nails went in so deep Rocky could swear the skin was going to break! "Colt, help!"

Having been firing at the three coming up the hall, Colt was surprised to hear his brother call for help- period. And he ignored the immediate danger ahead of them to see what was going on. His hazel eyes widen in terror seeing a bulbous-headed zombie dragging his brother into the hall. Dammit why hadn't they closed the door! Firing, the zombie staggered into the wall, winged by the bullet. Its cheek split open like a bag of chips torn open by an eager child looking to eat them. The zombie dropped Rocky to the floor, his blood drooled down over him. Colt missed the head so it was still moving, and searching for the dropped male, but instead went after Colt when his reaching hands could not find the blond.

Scared and enraged, Rocky got up from the floor, grabbing the man by the jaw and the top of its head giving it a quick twist to snap its neck. Head turned backwards the zombie's dry eyelids blinked one last time before it remained on the floor. Shaken, Rocky accepts Colt's help from the floor.

"I could use some help here!" A panicked Tum tum shouts over his shoulder before he starts to yell.

Entering the hall, Rocky and Colt spot the boy. He's speared all three of the zombies with the golden relic. It looks like a zombie kabob, only problem is the spear isn't all that long and the dead men are clawing at him, while swinging wildly which is staggering Tum tum to pop into the wall.

"Watch out." Said a woman's voice from behind the gruesome scene.

Colt and Rocky plaster themselves to the wall, and Tum tum releases his hold on the spear to back away as well. He moved just in time to avoid the scatter of a very loud gun going off. The three look down at the dropping bodies, two of the threes heads exploded. The man in front was simply crushed beneath the two shot, but still kicking. The woman stomped forward, her power showing through each move she made as she knelt down with a small silver flask. Dropping a little drip onto the pile up of zombies, she then struck a match dropping it onto the three.

The brothers watched, hypnotized by the flames that died out just as quickly as they'd engulfed the bodies.

Looking the three over, the woman says not a bit out of breath. "Come with me."

The three boys exchanged curious looks before following along after the gladiator. She took them downstairs; the brightly lit hall is illuminated mainly by the huge chandelier smack in the center between wall and stairs. Down they go, turning left at the landing. The woman walked them around the corner to a small room tucked beneath the stairs. Once they were all inside, the woman closed the door after them.

"Who are you three?" She asked sternly, her blue eyes looking them over.

"I'm Rocky, these are my brothers, Colt and Tum." He answered easily drinking her appearance in. She's young, not their age but not old enough to have age marks. Maybe 24 to 30. Brunette, short hair coming down just beneath her jaw. White. Definitely on a force judging by her clothing. Her vest reads: S.T.A.R.S. "Can I ask who you are?"

"I'm Jill Valentine with the STARS Bravo team." Jill noticed that the youngest had visibly relaxed. "My team has been sent here to check out this facility, but something went wrong."

"What went wrong?" As if Rocky had to ask.

"Facility?" Tum tum repeated. "I knew it. You guys, I read a letter that mentioned something about a false key made to keep intruders out."

"What?" Colt asked.

"Its true." Jill interrupted. "This mansion is a living space for a corporations workers. Umbrella."

"Umbrella." Tum tum repeated. "Where have I heard that before?"

"Emily." Rocky says softly, almost embarrassed. "She takes these diet pills that they make." Fear hit his next words as he asks. "But, they can't hurt her! I mean, I've found these plants upstairs and the notes in a botany book say that they're an organic healing remedy."

"That's true. Umbrella makes a lot of products organically," As she speaks she's eyeing their appearances and the guns in their young hands. "but our boss Wesker ordered us to come out here and check up on the disturbances that have been reported."

"What kind of disturbances?" Asks Colt with a grim expression.

"Its been on the news that bodies have been found around the Arklay mountains... the bodies were half eaten." The three exchange knowing looks with each other. "We've been asked by our boss to look into this place because its the only one around close enough the majority of the accidents. Wesker said Umbrella asked it of us through him; he's our team leader. We'd already sent out one team from our unit but they never reported in. Its been a month since they left, so we were sent out here to find out what happened on all fronts, but when got here we were attacked by these blood thirsty dogs."

"Yeah, we know 'em." Colt commented. "We were out here camping with our dad when we got attacked. We ran and ended up here."

"You haven't seen him have you?" Rocky asked. "He'd look like an older version of me?"

"I haven't seen anyone other than my partner Barry since we got in here. Wesker and my other teammate Chris got seperated from us. I've been looking for them when I ran into those things out there."

"So you're in the same boat that we are..." Rocky concluded.

"I might have a better advantage judging by the looks of you to me." Jill nodded at the blood soaked undershirt Rocky is sporting, along with the bandage. "At least you've got protection."

"Can you help us?" Tum tum asked tiredly.

"I've been doing what I can." Replied Jill sympathizing with the boy's weariness. "Honestly, I didn't even know that anyone aside from Barry and myself was alive here. I've been looking for Chris and Captain Wesker."

The 4 are silent drinking it all in.

"What can you tell us about this place?" Rocky asked.

"Its hell. That's as far as I know. I haven't got a clue yet as to what these things are doing here, or even how they got here." Jill answered softly. "I've been trying to find out, but a lot of the doors are locked."

"We found this key, it got us into the hall upstairs." Rocky held the gold key out to her.

"You keep it." She heard the unspoken offering. "If you're alright with doing it, you look for your father. I'm going outside to look around."

That seemed to dampen their moods, 3 sets of shoulders slump.

Frowning, Jill reached out and put a strong, reassuring hand on Rocky's shoulder. "We'll all get out of this, don't worry. I just need to find a more secure way." Reaching down at her leg, she hands him a walkie talkie. "Take this, we can keep in contact. This as well, it holds only two drops of kerocine but I've found that head shots and burning them keeps them down for good."

Colt takes the silver flask. Good thing he abducted the lighter from the desk in the office.

"If you'd like, there's a dressing room downstairs..." She hands over a small silver key with a black jewel set in the upper handle. "the room with the large statue in it. Its past the curtain right in front of you. You can change into something clean."

"Thank you." Rocky hung his head low though.

"I know you'll be ok. Just keep doors closed behind you, and lower your voices. I'm not sure how well they see but they're very good at hearing and sensing heat." She sighed. "As you saw they can't outright open a door, but if they slam into it hard enough anything will give way. I'll keep in touch." Jill said once more before walking out of them room.

There they stood. Alone again.


	4. I can See You

Rocky watched his youngest brother yawn for what had to be the sixth time in the last half hour. They were sort of at an emotional stand-still after Jill Valentine had given them the heads-up of horrible news. It was decision time.

"We should find somewhere to rest." Rocky says in a somber tone.

"Oh, right Rock'... I'm gonna take a nice snooze in this creepy mansion, that's infested with zombies." Colt remarked snidely. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'm not really hot on the idea of waking up to the reality of my foot being gnawed off." He practically glared daggers at his brother to go against his reasoning.

"I know. But we have guns, and we have a little more knowledge... I think if we sleep in shifts; two people on guard, we should be ok."

"I vote we find a room." Tum tum, who's slumped in the corner, raised his hand about as high as his waist.

"Are you nuts?" Colt insisted. He's sticking with his decision to remain where they are until someone comes along to get them out of this mess.

"Maybe." Replied Rocky honestly. "But its better than sleeping on the floor in this storage room. ...Now come on, Colt... We'll be fine."

Colt wasn't so sure of that; after all, Rocky- strong and solid- called him for help. Rocky... Rocky just does NOT do that sort of thing. Assistance with his sweet moves, but never for flat-out help. If this thing is a match for Rocky... what chances do he or Tum Tum have? _'Wait.. why am I thinking like this? This is why Rocky wavers when it comes to making me the leader in his place. I doubt myself the minute things take a turn out of our favor; I had on Synder's ship... when Jo needed our help and we had to chase after them, I wasn't gonna do whatever it took. Driving after them was Rocky's idea. ...Man. I've gotta stop doing that, otherwise'_ Looking at his older brother, who's still staring at him with pleading eyes to get moving, Colt sighs. _'Otherwise... Rocky will never be able to truly feel safe in battle if he's injured or something.'_ Nodding to his thoughts, Colt expells a breath of calm. "Let's go. We can't stay holed up in here forever. You're right."

Smiling, Rocky gives his brother's shoulder a reassuring grip; a grip that Colt very much needed, right then. The door opened soundlessly, closing just as quietly as Rocky could make it. The three of them jumped a foot when the storm outside rumbled with a loud BOOM! Tum tum offered a little 'its just the storm' chuckle. Rocky points up the stairs. Like a strange train, the brothers head up one flight turn right on the landing then head up the other set, then down the unexplored hall. They pass a window on the way down, a door... Colt tugged the knob as he walked by, finding that its locked.

"Let me see that key." Colt asked. Taking it from Tum tum, Colt sticks it into the lock. It opened. Yes! Shoving it into his pocket, Colt cracks the door; gun poised to shoot, then he peeks inside. He had a little start, not expecting to see a large moose head just nailed to the wall before him, in the matchbox of a mini-foyer, but there it was. "Its clear." Moving aside, he allows his brothers in past him before entering the room himself.

"Yikes. Good thing its already stuffed and dead." Tum tum declared, sleepily. "I'm not strong enough to face a moose." He phsyically leaned over onto Rocky, who supported his restless body against his own.

"Check the rooms before this guy starts to drool on me." Ordered Rocky kidding, and half serious. He had enough going on with the dog bites and zombie attacks. Last thing he wants is to deal with drool too.

Colt opened the door to their left. It looks like an office. Trying the door to the right, he sighs with relief that their search is over. Its a bedroom. "Right this way sleeping beauty."

...

"Aaah," Tum tum collapsed onto the soft and fluffy, but very sterile, bed, with its crisp white sheets and thin red blanket. "Thank you." He mumbled before dropping right off to sleep. He didn't even care that the desk lamp had been turned on.

"Poor kid." Colt says; flipping the cap to the expensive lighter that he'd filtched from the library, open and shut. "I wish this could all be over, the sooner the better."

"Yeah."

"And to think, we could have been at grandpa's cabin- like we are every summer. But we're here instead."

"Colt." Repremands Rocky, knowing what his cocky brother is getting at. "Its not really productive looking for someone to blame. We _wanted_ to come with dad, and grandpa wanted to spend time with mom. We're all apart of this... together, good or bad."

Picking at the corner of the desk, he'd lowered himself on, he replies through a sigh. "I know."

The two sit in silence for a moment, the sounds of the storm are still rumbling away, but they can no longer see it because there isn't a window in this room.

Rocky rubbed his arm when a chill ran down his spine. "...Did you hear that?"

"What?" Colt blinked. "The storm?"

"No... this weird sound," Rocky held a hand up to keep Colt quiet while he listened for the sound again. "It sounded like a chain being moved."

Shaking his head, Colt listens in for it himself.

He didn't hear anything, but he sure felt like he were being watched. And the person doing it was close by, very close. It was that whole 'monster under the bed' feeling. Sliding his butt from the desk, he moves over to a little door. "I'm gonna use the bathroom." He reported after opening the door to inspect the interior.

"Okay." Watching his brother's departure, Rocky looked around the room.

He felt it too. Unlike Colt, though, he moved away from the wall to look around. Behind the closed door of the closet, beneath the desk Colt was sitting on, then finally under the bed. But he sees nothing. Not even a trace of anything... No... there is something. Something shining on the floor around at the other side of the bed. Rocky crept along the trace of the bed's edge, stooped over and knees bent. Upon reaching the item he sought out, he knelt down on one knee to inspect it. Touching his finger tips to it, he recognizes the sticky red substance right away.

_'Blood. ...But who did it come from? And where did it happen that the room is spotless expcet for this one area?' _Rocky wonders.

Looking around the room, he's in agreement with his theory that the only place in this room covered in blood is underneath the bed. The walls are clean, the bed spreads, only the floor is stained. Dropping his elevated knee, he leans over so that he's in child position; as the yoga crowd call it. Looking beneath the bed it catches his attention that the blood is streaked as if someone had been dragged beneath the bed. There's clearly no body. The scenario played itself out in Rocky's mind. He can see the frantic person ducking into this room, maybe running from the undead monster hoard in the hall. From there, he'd be hidding behind the bed in order to give him some cover... that's when something hidden beneath a trap door would grab him, and pull him under. He hated to do it, but he felt around beneath the bed, through the sticky blood and dug his fingernails into any open space on the wooden floor. But he found none. Ready to move around to the otherside, he instead got a startle from Colt.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Um... Nothing." Rocky lied. He had to, they need a rest, and this was a good place to get it. "I was just making sure no one was hiding beneath the bed. I found blood. Whoever was bleeding must have already gone."

"I hope it wasn't that comrad of Jill's... or Dad."

Rocky hadn't thought of that. He straightened up and sat himself on the bottom of the bed. "What time is it?"

"Eleven thirty..."

"We'll trade off at midnight. You need to get some rest."

Colt balked at that statement. "Rocky, _you're_ the one that needs the rest." He crosses his arms to show he means business. "You've been through more than the both of us combined." Cocking his head in the direction of the door, he goes on to say. "Besides, I already said that I wasn't sleeping in this place, knowing what's going on around me."

Rocky scoffed and shook his head. Colt was right to want him to conk out next, but regardless... he's the oldest, and he feels responsible for his brothers' safety.

"The way I see this, is that there aren't that many of these things running around." Rocky spoke in order to break the silence. "This seems more like an isolated incident, and just about every door to this place is locked or closed off. Maybe, we can kill them all and at least remove the biggest threat. But Colt... these things respond to sound somewhat. If we shoot off our guns over one, more will come running. We should save our ammo for larger crowds, and if we find any alone," He removes his survival knife; the silver glints in the lamp light, casting a white glow on the wall. "we use out survival knives. Understand?"

Colt nods. When Rocky starts to look around the room, Colt asks. "You think Dad's ok?"

Rocky took in a deep thoughtful breath, letting it slowly out before speaking. "I do."

"Come on. Real talk, Tum's asleep." Colt cast a glance over at the bed, though, not to look at Tum tum. He felt that weird feeling again, the he was being watched. Shaking it off, though his gaze remains on the dark rectangle void that is the shadow beneath the bed. "Do you think that Dad is ok?"

Rocky closed his eyes and shook his head, but his mouth said. "I really do. Zombies or no... he's trained for these sorts of things."

"Dad's F.B.I ..Not army, navy, or even special ops." Colt shrugged his left hand. "He's just a civiy."

"So are we. And we're surviving."

"Need I point out that its barely?" Colt retorts while gesturing a hand to his brothers wrapped arm. "Besides, we have ninja training... our instincts are a little better than the average person."

That made Rocky smile. "Wouldn't it be great if grampa would show up, like he had on Snyder's boat?"

"Yeah." Colt smiled as he played with the scenario in his head. "Then we'd all get out of here, find Dad together, and chalk it up as another one of our great summers."

"Yeah..."

The two are silent for a moment, listening to the steady drum of the storm outside. Colt began to pace the room, back and forth, back and forth. It wasn't ten minutes later before he was down on the bed beside his younger brother, with his head resting snuggly on the corner of the mattress. Rocky stood guard, going from watching his brothers to watching the door. It had grown quiet outside, the storm nothing more than a few unseen flashes now and then. It was the silence outside that had him move to the door to scan the mini foyer, and hard eye the room across from the bedroom. The office. Too much quiet is a good thing afterall. He hoped.

Colt's eyelids scrunched in before they slowly blinked open. First thing he noticed is, well, that's he's waking up. When had he fallen asleep! Dammit! Rubbing his eyes, he looks around the lit-up room. "Rocky?" He asked when not instantly spotting his older brother. _'He must be in the bathroom.'_ He figured, feeling his heavy lids close again. But just when sleep was about to grip him, Colt shot up in the bed; violently enough to jostle Tum tum from his coma-esque nap.

"Hmm... what?" Rubbing his eyes he looks for the 'fire' that woke his brother up.

"Rocky's gone." Getting up from the bed, he jerks open the bathroom door. Rocky may have been inside, and he would just have to get mad at him for invading his privacy, but you don't just up and leave in a situation like this. "Rocky!" He called in. Empty. _'Dammit, Rocky! That is so irresponsible!'_ Heading for the door, gun cocked and poised to shoot anything in sight, he pauses once inside the mini-foyer with that creepy moose head. "Rocky?"

"I'm in here." He called from the office.

Colt would be lying if he denied exspelling a breath of relief that his brother is ok, but dammit, if Rocky ever pulls that again, he'll shoot him instead of the zombies. Pushing the door open, he walks into the office. Tum tum came in past him, and peeked over his brother's shoulder to look at the papers he's studying.

"It was quiet, so I thought it would be a good time to look around."

"Rocky." And Colt's tone said it all about his brother doing something that foolish again.

Waving a hand at his brother, Rocky nods as a silent declaration that he will never upset the balance of the trio and its safety again. But he didn't apologize, he merely held the manilla folder in their direction. "Listen to this, its a piece of lab research. It seems that there was a family here after all, the Trevors... he was a researcher, but his family was asked to live in the building too. Umbrella provided it for them..."

"Those umbrella people own this place? Who gives their staff a swanky little mansion to do work in?" Colt asks looking around the room at the empty, but water full fish tank. Some framings of bugs, of all things. Yeesh. Butterflies with their wings open and pinned. Wasps. Who frames wasps? A large bookshelf. It looked like something were behind it too. Wonder what that could be? Walking over to study it, while keeping an ear on what his brother is saying, Colt shoves his hand behind the bookshelf. There is something back there! But this big old shelf isn't gonna move on its own. He has to get the fish tank out of the way a bit first.

"Says the Trevors were volunteers to help with experimental drugs." Shaking his head, he closes the folder over. "If there's more its been torn away."

"Strange. Do you think something happened to them, and that the Trevors are the ones who've done all this?" Asks Tum tum thoughtfully.

"Hmm. That would explain why everyone is dead, but not why they've gotten back up." Rocky replied sullenly.

"Its a lab, right?" Tum tum shrugged. "Maybe they were so hopped up on chemicals that their bodies didn't know they were dead."

Rocky physically got a chill from that comment. "I hope it isn't like that. We've been breathing in all kinds of nasty things since we got into this place. Feces mostly, from the dead bodies decomposing." He was with Tum tum when seeing the boy scrunch his nose in disgust. "The fumes in the air could be just as toxic as their blood."

"I sure hope not."

"Guys, there's something back here. Would you give me a hand with it?" Colt finally joined in the conversation by making himself noticed. They could talk themselves blue in the face before they figure out just what in the world happened in this house. Better to focus on things at present.

"Sure, what are you doing?"

"I need to move this fish tank; there's something behind this bookshelf that I can't reach." He gets to one end of fish tank and grabs a hold underneath the stands frame. Grunting, he as if to tell his brothers to shake a leg, he digs his foot in waiting for assistance.

"Umm, maybe we should drain the water first?" Rocky suggest. "Even with the three of us, its gonna be hard to move."

"There's a plug inside, but I'm not dunking my hand in there."

"Maybe there's a trick to it... like there was with the arrow head and the cemetery." Suggest Tum tum looking around the large oak desk for any trick switches.

Rocky looked around too. He noticed that one of the framed sets of butter flies was broken in the center. "Here. This might be it." Walking over to the picture, he felt in past the broken glass, touching the pretrified butterflies, one of them was a bit stiffer than the rest, manmade almost. Shoving it, the bug dipped in where a switch was pressed.

"Whoa..." His brother's unified awe, turned his attention to the fish tank.

The water is draining through the little hole in the bottom, where the water must be draining into the wooden base beneath it.

"This place just doesn't stop being freaky, does it?" Colt comments. Giving the tank a test tug, he smiles. "Its easier to move. Come on, gimme a hand."

Rocky and Tum tum assist their brother with tugging the fish tank out of the way.

"Wait, wait," Colt looks around the length side of the tank. "I gotta get from back here." He wasted no time climbing over the expensive desk, the papers strewn about it crumpled and swished under his movements. "Okay, bookshelf."

The three get on its left side and push, but its not good. The things is stuck in place.

"I don't get it, its not mounted in." Colt studies the shelf with a cock of his head, peeking through the space behind it for braces into the wall, but he sees none.

"Maybe its a puzzle, like with the fish tank." Kneeling, Rocky studies the floor. "Yeah, see here. There're scrape marks, like it slides on its own. Something in this room has to trigger that. But what...?"

"Well, if the tank was the butterfly, maybe the bookshelf is one of these freaky little wasps." Retorts Tum tum, half kidding.

Shrugging, Rocky thought outloud. "Could be."

"There are two cases, though." Colt looked from one to the other. One looked like nothing more than fishing lures, the other held real bugs. Dead. But real all the same.

Rocky looked at them too, wondering to himself what was different as the two cases seem to be mimicking each other. "This could be it." Grabbing the lab coat hanging on a hook by the door, he punches the glass from the frame on both cases, dropping the glass sprinkled coat to the floor. "This wasp's stinger is a hook, see." He removes the hook. "If we put it beneath the fishing lure, it might move the bookcase."

Smiling, Colt shakes his head. "Leave it to Rocky, to have fun with a derranged situation, granted there's some mystery behind it."

Rocky didn't comment to the remark, it was true. He loves mysteries. That's why he reads Sherlock Holmes, and watches the mystery movie of the week on the I.D. channel. Setting the hook from the lure beneath the real wasp to underneath the fake, the three watch as the bookshelf moves over, submitting to the machinery that makes it move.

"What's back there?" Tum tum asks while already wrapping his hands around the item that's stuck in a divit in the wall. "Looks like a wall decoration." He turns the gold colored object over in his hand. There's a sun on its front and nothing on its back. Weird.

"Leave it. It probably doesn't do anything." Colt suggested.

"Alright." Tum tum set the item back down into the open square in the wall. "Where to now? Dad could be anywhere inside this place, and so could Jill." He follows his brother's to the exit. "I found this letter in that study... see. It says something about a dog collar having a key on it." Removing the letter from his pocket, he hands it to Rocky, who read it over then handed it back.

"We haven't come across any balcony that looks like that."

"Yeah, weird items... balconies, that's all good stuff but- Rock', you need to get some sleep first, before we do anything else." Colt suggest.

"But I'm not tired." Retorts Rocky, reminding his brother of a 3 year old being told to take a nap.

"It doesn't matter, _try_." Colt insists, a hard glare cast down on his brother.

Shaking his head in disbelief, Rocky smiles. "Tell a guy he's the leader for the day and he's enforcing naps." Chuckling, Rocky walks back into the bedroom. Making a grand show that he was doing as he was told, he lays down on the bed awaiting a sleep that he believed would not come.

Satisfied with the results, Colt looks to Tum tum. "Come on, guard duty."

Giving a thumbs up, the two boys stand watch by the door.

Colt kept a continuous look over his shoulder. There was that odd feeling again that he was being watched. Was it possible that this place was supernaturally haunted as well? Naah, ghost aren't real. But the feeling of unseen eyes glued to him sure is spooky all the same. Ten minutes later, Colt was figiting at his witts-end. "Let's explore the upstairs. Its been quiet for a while, we might not run into any danger."

"Might, being the opperative word... What about Rocky?" Tum tum looks over his shoulder. "We're supposed to watch out for him."

"Its just up the hall, besides... he ditched us."

"Yeah, but he was only in the next room. If anything came in, he'd be all over it."

Tum had a point. But... dammit. Those invicible eyes are creeping him out! "Alright, let me go alone. For all we know, Dad could be hiding in the room just down the hall."

"And you think Dad didn't hear all the commotion ahead of time?" Tum says smartly. "He'd of heard the shots and come to help."

"Yes, thank you, Rocky... but I'm going. I'll be back before the clock hits 1:15." He's out the door before his brother can object any further.

"Sorry, Rock', I tried." With a shrug, he plants himself in the seat at the desk, keeping his gaze on the open door. Colt closed the one that leads to the hall. He may think that his brother's will be alright, but he doesn't wanna make it too easy for the dead men, should one wander through.

...

Tum tum jumped out of his skin from the shot fired off, before he realized where it had come from. "Rocky!" He snapped, heading over to the bed where his semi-alert brother sits, he places a hand on his shoulder to give him a good shaking. "Rocky! Rocky, you're dreaming, wake up!"

Lowering the gun, he didn't need the shaking, the bang from the gun snapped him out of his lucid dream. "I... I'm sorry. I... was dreaming that one of those things was biting my leg."

Shaking his head in disbelief over the close call on both their parts, he says in a calming tone. "Good thing you didn't aim for your leg." Rubbing his brother's back as their mother would whenever she thought they needed some comfort, Tum tum looked at the cracked open door.

"Where's Colt?"

"In the hall."

"What!" Getting up, he wobbles from lack of full balance. His head is still a bit in the clouds.

"Its okay, it okay. He was just checking to see why things are so quiet. He promised he would go downstairs or anything." He tries to stop his brother from leaving the room, by spreading his arms to block the exit.

"Are you insane? Get out of my way, Tum, Colt could be-..."

"I'm _fine_." He walks through the room with a strong purpose, sitting on the bed. "Check this out." Pulling a roll of paper from his back pocket, he hands it over to Rocky. "There's a room at the end of this hall, and there was a fireplace and I dropped some old piece of wood inside and burned it. I just figured we could get warmed up since its getting kinda cold. And the next thing I know..." His hands gestures out to the paper.

"...Its a blueprint of the second floor." Rocky cocks his head. How was something like this possible. The paper is black and smokey, but the outline of the map is white. It was almost intentional. "This must be a carbon copy." He thinks outloud. "This house... its, horrifying. That anyone would go to these lengths to do research... even research as brilliant as medicinal herbs for healing... its scary." His tone is very somber. "I think we should hurry and find a way out of here. We can call for help once we get into the city and they can help us look for Dad." Rolling up the map, he says softly. "Hopefully one of the S.T.A.R.S team has already found him."

"We might have better luck with opening some of the locked doors if we can get the key from the balcony photo."

"We've got this one," Colt showed off the gold key that was stuck to the back of the purple book they'd found outside. "Its gotta go somewhere other than this hall."

"I think we should go back downstairs." Declared Tum tum. "We'll never got out of here by hanging out upstairs."

"You've got a point." Colt picks at the small tear in the knee of his jeans. "But Jill said she'd keep in touch, incase she found some way out. I don't wanna be off in the boonies when she calls."

"This is a switch, the local hot-head's got cold feet." Tum tum teased.

"Its not that... I'm just not ready to die- not this way. Not today..."

"But we can't just sit here waiting on Jill... she might not make it herself. We should at least try things our own way and see how it works out." Tum tum taps the photo. "We've still got locked doors to open... Dad could be holed up in one of them and can't hear our voices through the wall. Knocking won't work, those things banged their way into the study.

"You're right. Rocky? What do you think?"

The two turn their attention to the older male. "I think Tum's right, we shouldn't stay put up here. Dad really could be hiding out around here somewhere, we should keep looking for him as well as a way out." Getting up from the bed, he doesn't exhibit as much caution as one might, had Colt not just been out in the hall.

The three move out into the hall, listening to the silence around them. The floor boards may have creaked, their clothes may have even rustled a bit, but aside from them, nothing in the home made a sound. There's a good chance Jill cleared away a good portion of the dead, there's also a good chance that they're somewhere else in the large home, just waiting for some fresh meat to pop in unsuspecting. A chill ran down their spines as if they were all thinking the same thing right then. Choosing familiar terrotory they double back into the hall where the entry to the study is. They would have just entered from the door leading into the room from the hall, but there's no knob on that side.

The home is still very quiet as they exit the hall and cross through the main area of the home. Their feet thud noisily against the thin red runner as they walk steadily towards the double doors on the other side. The right door is pushed open by Rocky but Colt is the one who passes through.

"Shit, its dark." He mentioned, moving further in so his brothers can get through as well.

All three boys jumped out of their skin when a large shadow passed over the room. The low, throaty moan sounded shortly after, and heavy footsteps gave away the undead monsters location.

"Get back, Tum." Colt ordered while taking aim.

Tum tum moved out of the way, bumping his hip into the railing of the wrap around catwalk over the dining room, which the chandeliers illuminate below them. But there was another zombie around at the other side! He wasn't as hungry as the one currently charging at them as he seems to be more occupied with the large window bringing in moonlight than to the scene happening around him. Colt fired off a few rounds, missing, but he readjusted him aim and landed three bullets into the zombies stomach, chest and shoulder.

Rocky took aim at the zombie across the room who suddenly took notice to them because of the noise. The undead monster staggers from the force of the bullet thrusting into its arm. It rushed forward, no real concept as to where its standing or that something is in its way, and so it went crashing over the railing and onto the dining room floor. But it would seem that the fall didn't kill it. Rocky wasn't sure what compelled him to do it, afterall the undead monster was no longer a danger to them at the moment, but he hurried to the other side of the catwalk where a large gray clay statue of a Goddess stood. With enough effort, he managed to shove the large piece of art over the railing and directly on top of the zombie, who's bones snapped like twigs and its skull sank in... crushed to mush. By the time this went on, Colt's attacker just met its end, slumping forward to its knees before dropping to the floor, bleeding out.

"Is that the end?" Asks Tum tum.

"Looks that way," Replied Rocky, his eyes trained on the zombie down below on the dining room floor. "we'd better keep moving."

They tried the first door but its locked, the second gave them access and they enter with caution. Its quiet. Rocky took the lead through the door. Before them is a wall with a light fixture on it, at their left a few feet ahead is a single door, made of metal, which to them meant it led outside. It could be the very balcony they're looking for. Moving over to the door, Rocky flips that lock over then pushes the door open. The cool outside breeze swooshed in against them, coiling around their legs like a snake would slither up a pole.

"I snagged this dog whistle... hopefully," He puts the whistle to his lips giving it a blow. "these dogs haven't been turned."

But judging by the instant thunder of their paws on the stone balcony, and the growls rumbling in their throats, they've been turned just like the rest of the dogs. The three braced themselves for impact; the dogs weren't like the zombies, they maul to death first and savor your carcass later. Tum tum readies his survival knife, while his brothers stand at his sides like sentinals ready to fire. The head dog's collar shined in the moonlight as it leaped into the air ready to take a bite of the face of whomever he landed on first. Tum tum took the initiative and swung his arm out, landing the knife across the dogs throat, but it wasn't enough to stop the mangled looking mutt. It shook its head to clear if of either the pain, or the shock that it had been cut at all.

"Aah!" Tum tum was side swiped but thankfully not bitten.

The smaller of the rottweilers smacked into him as sort of a warning bump. And it circled the group looking for weak spots to strike. It seemed all three wanted in on the game and they joined in circling the three boys like it were a deadly arena, and they planned to come out the victors. Drool of slobber and blood dripped from the animals mouth while it snapped and snarled.

Rocky fired at the ring leader, landing a hit to its shoulder. It didn't sway its movement in the least, but it did acknowledge the pain because the bullet shoved it back from the doggy line-up thats going on. Colt fired as well, the bullet shot out of the gun so fast it actually resulted in a few little flickers of flame coming from the open side of the barrel.

"Ow." He shakes his heated hand through the air to ease the pain.

Tum tum kicked the smaller dog, mounting it when it landed on its side. And closing his eyes to avoid actually having to see it; he loves animals after all, he stabs away until the dog is no longer moving. His brothers didn't have it as easy, since they had to aim at a moving target; their dad didn't have time to teach them to use a gun that far, and zombies rushing at you is a thousand times easier than dealing with shifty dogs. So when the ring leader had its back to him, while Rocky was aiming for it, Tum tum hopped on top of it, and just wailed away.

Surprised by the feriosity of their younger brother's attacks, Colt and Rocky opened fire on the remaining dog, and two people shooting seemed to be better than one, since the mutt went down after the fourth shot.

Panting, Tum tum removed the collar from the dog's neck. "Is this is?" He asked more himself, than his brothers because what would they know? Inspecting the collar, the tag fell free and hit the ground. "It looks like a normal tag." Rocky and Colt gather beside Tum tum while he flips the tag over in his hand. It was then that something weird happened and from a hole in the bottom of the tag fell a stem. It looked like a key, but obviously wasn't because well, it was too fake looking to actually unlock anything.

Snatching it from the younger boy, Colt looks it over. "I guess we gotta find the real one."

"Find the real one... but why make a fake?" Asks Tum.

"If this house is like a puzzle to keep spies from learning your secrets... it could have been made to keep intruders guessing. So, I say we start looking for the real one. What have we got to lose?" Rocky shrugs.

"Are you sure about that?" Colt questions, these dog encounters were always the worst. Travelling in packs like they do.

Rocky's attention is elsewhere though, and both Colt and Tum tum turned their attention to see as to what it was he was so focused on.

"What are you looking at?" Asked Colt, trying to see through the darkness all around them.

With the moonlight he can see bits of the large balcony. Its got an odd shape to it. There's the five foot outgrowth that they're standing on, it was right ahead of them when they left the house. Off to the right from the door is a long walk way leading to an area that, from where they're kneeling they can see, leads to an area that dips down with a few stairs; a long row of potted plant divides the stairs into two sets rather than just one long strip. Below the stairs, in the dip, is a lovely little table set with only two chairs. Past that, illuminated by two lights, is a door.

"That must lead back inside, remember the door that was locked?" Rocky stood up. "Wait here. I'm gonna go unlock it." Getting to his feet, Rocky wanders across the balcony.

The cold wind howling around him, rustling the leaves on the trees which splash little droplets of water against him, from the rain earlier. Unlocking the door, Rocky cracks it open and peeks inside to be sure. He cocks his head in thought when it seemed like a door closed at the other end of the main hall. Could be Jill... or that man she'd been looking for, Captain Wesker. It didn't matter for now, since they had other things to do. Checking out the hall they've gotten access too seemed like the way to go. But then there's that key matter. Decisions, decisions.

"Guys, come on." Rocky says when returning to where his brothers are seated. "We should swap out the keys and keep moving."

"Did the door lead back inside?" Colt stood up and followed his brother to the door they'd recently come through.

"Yeah, the foyer." Replied Rocky. "We should swap the keys before checking out the rest of this hall, okay?"

"Fine with me." Replied Tum tum, going through the held open door.

Passing through the upper dining hall once more the 3 brothers have to tap their chins about where it was the room with the armor statues had been. They couldn't recall. And it wasn't as simple as opening any door they came across, because what if there were someone back there? They were hoping for as little dangerous encounters as they could get in this place.

"Ha. I forgot about the map," Colt reaches for the item inside the waistband of his jeans. "Map... shows the room iiiis," Looking up, he grabs the knob right beside them. "Here." Pulling the door open, they recognize the room instantly and head through.

The bodies are still strewn about the floor, speared and dead for real this time... well... all but one. There had been a body laying on the floor around the corner by the door they needed to get to, but its no longer there. Who could have moved it? More importantly, why? Each boy glanced at the abandoned spot on the floor, the only sign that anything had been there is a puddle of blood. So where's the body?


	5. The Walls Have Eyes

Rocky was sure that there was a body on the floor there when they had been in this hall before. But where was it now? Pressing a finger to his lips to silence his brothers, the 3 listen for sounds of movement. It was a distance from them, but there was definitely movement down the hall. The blond gestured for his brothers to follow him through the door on ahead. They really have no reason to be headed down the hall anyway, so it was better they moved on before unwanted attention is placed upon them.

Rocky opened the door and stood there, waiting for Colt and Tum Tum to go by so that he could soundlessly close it. The still spooked male could feel himself shiver over the memory of the zombies bashing into the door to get in at them just because they heard them moving or talking beyond the door. It closed with little more noise then the spring turning to release the pressure on the knob from Rocky's hand, while the doorjamb slid soundlessly into place.

"Would you look at this?" Colt says in a low voice. "What kind of hall leads to another hall?"

"Beats me." Tum replied just as softly.

The three took in the stone-esque hall way, with its blue trim going down the entirerty of the hall. Beside them, right, is the weirdest statue. A suit of armor holding a spiked shield. They can see its twin up the hall to the left, only it doesn't have spikes on its shield, neither does the one opposite the one up the hall. Straight ahead would be the matching statue to the one with the spiked shield. Weird. But oddly beautiful- in an artsy kind of way.

Spotting a small podium sticking up from the floor placed between the two statues, Rocky waves a hand. "Come on. This must be the key."

The 3 ninjas rush over to the podium in the floor; set down inside of the small brown uprise is a silver key. Tum tum looked over the cruddy key in his hand, then down at the real one in the floor.

"It really is a poor imitation." Mutters the youngest male. Stooping down, he lifts the real key from its place. "That was easy." He spoke too soon.

The twin statues at their sides jiggled and shook, then with a loud groan they slid forward cramping the three boys into the space together. Tum tum staggered backward in surprise of both the loud sound and the sudden movement, and unfortunately he dropped the retrieved key to the floor behind the statue at his back.

"Crud!" He knelt down to reach for the dropped item, but it was back there aways.

"Uhh, Tum tum?" Colt's eyes are wide with fright upon seeing that the spike shield statue ahead of them has just further boxed them into the little casym in the hallway by moving up. "Might wanna get that key a little faster!" His panicked voice commanded.

"I can't reach it! My arms are too short!" Standing he says. "You try."

Colt knelt down, but stopped. "What's that sound?" He asks.

All three turn their attention down the hall where a sound almost like a drill or a saw buzzed away. It was coming closer too, and revealed to them is the first spiked statue. The shield is spinning like a top, making it look liked the deadly eight spiked drill that it is.

Rocky, horrified, shoves his weight into the smooth shield suit of armor to try shoving it back into place so that Colt can reach it, but its a sturdy as an oversized statue made of stone, or the world's thickest tree. "Tum! Help me push this!"

Tum Tum ducked beneath his brother, to get a place to shove as well, while below them Colt reached an arm behind the statue for the fallen key. "Colt, get it!" Cried Tum tum.

"Colt!" Shouted Rocky over the whirl of drills, and the rattle of the statue coming along the track toward them.

Umbrella really wants to keep their secrets under wraps to go to these lengths. If they didn't have the real key they'd be screwed. Unless...

"Tum, put the false key in its place! Hurry!"

Tum tum bumped into Rocky trying to scoot back, but moved himself aside to get by and he messily shoved the key into the uprise. He had to do this three times because his shaking hands wouldn't position it right.

"Aaahhh!" Yelled Rocky and Colt, both plastered to the smooth statues boxing them in.

But it was that instant. When the key went into the indent in the floor the drills slowed to a stop and the statue froze in place for a brief moment, then retracted back down the hall to where it had been in the beginning. All of them did. They jiggled and shook, their rattling armor seemed like it would fall apart though they're so sturdy to the touch. All 3 boys let out a breath of relief, sagging to the floor as just a bundle of nerves.

Chuckling, Colt shakes his head in disbelief. "I can't believe that worked."

"That must be the catch... you see a key that looks nothing like the original" Rocky let out one last huge breath to calm himself before continuing to speak. "you'll see the statue coming at you, and continually put the real key back in its base believing the fake won't work. Its genius."

"Rocky, I know you love playing Sherlock, but if you compliment this freak show one more time, I'll clobber you." Colt uses his older brother's shoulder to help him stand. Crouching, he reaches behind the backed off statue to retrieve the silver key from where it landed behind it. With the statue pushed back it was as easy as plucking an apple from the lowest branch of a five foot tree. "Got it. Now can we please get going?"

"No." Rocky stands as well.

"Why? We've got the ke-.."

Cutting his brother off, Rocky says. "Because all the noise from the statues moving probably called attention to this room. That monster has to know we're in here... he could be waiting around."

Colt can understand why Rocky is so skittish after the scare he got earlier. So nodding, he pockets the key, and takes a seat. His attention follows as Rocky walks toward the closer of the two spiked statues. "What is it?"

"There's a door back here." Tugging the knob, he returns to where Colt and Tum Tum are seated. "Gimme the key, I wanna tre it out."

Lifting his hips from the floor, Colt removes the key from his back pocket. "Here."

Rocky wasn't at it for long; the key doesn't fit. "It must open some other locked doors then. We didn't go through all of this just to have the wool pulled over our eyes."

Cocking a bullet into barrel, Colt gets back up from the floor. "We should keep moving; we know to hit them in the head. With the two of us, he shouldn't be too bad of a struggle."

"And hopefully its just the one." Tum tum added. Moving behind his armed and dangerous brothers, he follows them to the door.

Colt pulled it open and peeked around. "Its clear." He whispered.

The three walk out into the hall, alert, and ready to strike. But all is quiet. Somewhat relieved, they pass through the hall to the door directly before them. That was when the zombie made its attack! It was a low groan that called their attention, before the pounding of foot steps hurrying at them from behind. Tum didn't press himself to the wall so much as he was shoved aside from Colt. The blue ninja took aim, but was swiftly jerked back through the doorway behind him. The speeding deadman thrashed its arm forward to grab Colt, but wound up having it stuck within the door way from Rocky jerking it closed on him.

Rocky held tightly to the knob keeping the thrashing undead in place. The zombie seemed to the feel no pain whatsoever with its arm stuck in the door, even with the pressure of Rocky pulling on it, practically cracking bone with the force it needed to stay shut. Head red with blood swell, its blind eyes flicked back and forth trying to see the meal it smells beyond the doorway.

Seeing his brother was in a trance, Tum tum shook Rocky's arm. "Rocky?"

Snapping out of it, he touches the snout of the gun directly to the zombie's forehead then fires. Ducking his face from the spray of blood, he opens the door a hair and kicks the now dead-dead man to the floor. Closing the door afterwards. Running a hand through his hair, he sighs. "Let's start opening doors." He starts away down the hall.

Snagging Tum tum before he could get out of reach, Colt leans over and whispers to the younger male. "Tum, I think something might be wrong with Rocky."

"Me too."

"So you have noticed?"

"Yeah. He's not acting like himself, he seems... I don't know.. nervous or skittish one minute, and just now he's mister 'let's kill 'em all'. Its weird."

Colt nods.

"Come on, you guys." Rocky calls to them when he sees that they're still upstairs while he's downstairs.

"Coming!" Colt snapped. Giving Tum tum a knowing look; he knows he doesn't have to tell his little brother to keep an eye on Rocky's behavior.

4 4 4

They decided to sweep the right side of the mansion first since its given them the most locked doors so far. Rocky remained in the lead like a man on a mission, while Colt and Tum tum hung back watching for any danger that might creep up on them since Rocky is currently distracted.

Unsure of how the others felt about it, Tum tum can feel his skin crawling as they walk through the hall where they killed those derranged dogs attacked them after leaping through solid glass just to get to them. The carcasses still remain on the floor in a large pool of their own blood! Although, he'd be more afraid if the bodies were gone.

The door pushed open, and silence met their ears. It seemed to be that once the zombies were down, they assuredly stayed that way.

"Rocky wait!" Colt hissed loudly to his brother.

"What?" Turning, Rocky looks back at the pair.

"Where's that tapping coming from?"

"What tapping?" Asks the older male, listening in as hard as he can. "It might be the rain starting up again."

"No... its more like bangi-..."

Colt's question was answered when the windows up and down the hall came through from the weight of zombies pressing into them. The three boys screamed when the drunken deadmen slid to the floor, moaning and hissing while they got themselves up.

"Shit." Colt fired at a very large man; much to his disgust, though his aim was excellent, the bullet shattered the man's skull completely sending bits of scalp and chunks of decayed brain about the hall.

"Euw!" Tum tum covered his face from the chunklettes. He had run over to one and began stabbing him in the back when Colt fired. He figured the cannibalistic men would be easier to kill if they weren't up and chasing them down the hall.

Rocky watched for a moment, then began to help them out. His bullet shot one in the back in the spine, the other shot landed on the back of the zombie's knee. It writhed and wriggled in what seemed to be agonizing pain. Can these things still feel pain afterall? Rocky walked in closer to fire off another shot, but Tum tum got in the way dropping the smallest little tear of kerosine on the undead man's back, after which he flicked the lighter to life and pressed it down on the tiny wet spot.

It took a moment but the fallen monster caught, and the fire burned away stretching to the next man as well. The stench was enough to knock you back into next week, but nothing but a single moan sounded before the silent roar of fire was the only sound in the air. Just as quickly as the fire started it went out. The puss and flesh, on top of dry clothing wasn't enough to keep them burning, thankfully, but it was enough to keep them from getting back up. And the deadman who had reannimated due to blood flowing up to his brain was proof that even the undead can continue to stay alive. Good thing they ran into Jill earlier or they would have never known.

"This thing doesn't hold much." Tum Tum says absently, and he shakes the cantine. "We'd better be careful with when we use it, huh guys?"

"Yeah." Replied Colt.

"We're not safe around windows, unless we're on the second floor." Rocky cut through their conversation.

"What?"

"We need to keep moving." Stepping over the charred heap, Rocky walks down the hall to a set of double doors.

The hall before them lay shrouded in darkness. Two lights are on at the far end of the hall but the glass is so dirty its dulled the flare of the lightbulb.

"Do you hear anything?" Colt asked.

His question was soon answered by the sound of foot steps creeping around a darkened corner. This one moved in fast! It took a shot to the head but continued running, even with a chunk of skull missing. Blood runs heavily down the side of her face with chunks of hair and scalp; her jaw hangs hungrily open drooling as she moans. Tum tum seemed to be on the menu because her aim was directly for him. Rocky and Colt began to fire but were met with dull clicks instead of booms of bullets fired.

"The clips are empty!" Rocky fumbled with the gun to change the clip.

Colt's slid free easily, but he dropped the replacement on the wooden floor!

Tum tum cried out, but while doing so he stuck his survival knife forward allowing the zombie to penatrate herself over its blade. Her continuous run forced him back into the previous hall where he smacked into the wall. "Guys! Guys!" He called over and over. Twisting the knife like a screw he hoped to at least administer enough pain to have the thing drop to its knees and be eye level, but no such luck. It seemed he had to go for the other option. Bracing himself for sickness countdown, Tum tum grabbed the woman by the shoulder and as quickly as he could, he removed the knife from her torso and began shoving it into the exposed flesh of her shattered skull, directly into brain matter.

Her blind eyes roll up into her head, and she dies right there slumping forward against the boy, the slow slide of her body left a long smear of blood down his body, but thankfully her face didn't brush his. ...He still turned his head and threw up. The whole ordeal was sickening, and he didn't think he could take much in the first place. They've seriously got to hurry and find a way out of this place- sooner than later. Legs weak from loss of adrenaline, Tum tum slumps to the floor.

"We're sorry Tum," Rocky says, kneeling down to touch his brother calmingly on the shoulder.

"Yeah. We ran out of bullets and in the panic the damn clips wouldn't slide into place."

"I'm hungry..." He muttered over exhaustion.

Smiling, Rocky looked at Colt and the two just laughed. Only Tum tum could want something to eat, when the last thing he ate is sitting right next to him no longer recognizeable.

...

Tum tum walked out of the bathroom somewhat cleaned up. He washed the blood from his face and clothes, squeezing them as dry as he could get them, which left him resembling a wet cat or a chicken with its feathers plunked and its skin pulled up to buttered and herbed and- Man! He's _still_ thinking about food!

"Are you good?" Asks Rocky, putting an arm around his little brother he steers him with him. He's decided that he'd be a lot safer at his side.

"Wet. But, good."

"Good." Letting out a exasperated sigh, Rocky looks down the hall, then to the door at his right. "Which way should we go?"

"I can save us the trouble," Cracking the door beside his brothers open, Colt peeks inside. "This door leads to that room with the huge chandelier... where we met Jill."

"Forward it is." Rocky states.

Rocky and Colt put their guns into the wasteband of their jeans. They'd forgotten about saving bullets, and Tum tum's show of bravery reminded them that they should use their knives a lot more, if the kill is close enough to them. Colt checked the knob to a door at their left. Its locked. Sticking the key into the hole he gives it a turn, smiling when the lock flicked over. "We're in."

"But be careful." Rocky warned when the knob turned in his brother's hand.

"I know."

Cracking the door, Colt peeks a hazel glance around the visable area. So far so good. Opening the door to its full, he looks around. "Its clear."

"Kaw!" Came a deep bellow from a raven.

The three brothers jumped from start, but calmed when realizing it was only a bird... but upon entering the room and rounding a corner they see its a whole lot of birds! They're all seated on a bar holding track lights that are on and shining on some stained glass photos of princesses right across from them. The three tilt their heads back and just stare.

"Do you think they're infected?" Colt asks.

"I can't tell. ...They're not attacking us like the people and dogs are." Replied Rocky softly, as to not disturb the birds casual demeanor.

Removing himself from his brother's grasp, Tum tum explores the beautiful room. It really is a masterpiece. The stained glass holds ladies featuring a certain piece of jewelry: a necklace, bracelet, and crown. They're in three different colors of orange, yellow, and green. It was weird though, because the track lighting across from the pictures to highlight them are simple white bulbs. "Guys look at this." Tum tum presses the button beneath the glass.

"Tum tum!" Both his brothers shout in a hiss, still weary of the birds.

But nothing dramatic happened.

Rocky gave the younger male a light shove on the shoulder. "You know that this house is like a puzzle. Do you wanna end up in another situation like we were in upstairs?"

Tum tum blinked at the stern talking to, amazed that his brother was lecturing him. He knew. But for some reason he had gone and pressed the button anyway. Call it a moment of stupidity.

"We can't take risk like that." Pressing the button, he assumed it would return to its green color but instead the picture glowed in red.

"I think we just found our next puzzle." Colt stated. "What kind of trick is this?" He walks over to the glass beside the popularly pushed window, and gave it a press.

"Whoa..." Drone Rocky and Tum tum seeing all the glass pictures, that turned out to be glass boxes with lights inside, but lovely photos etched into the glass to give it some flare. The only picture that didn't budge was a large stained glass wall at the very end of the room.

"Rocky?" Colt gave his brother the go-ahead to nerd out.

Gladly taking the invite, he walks over to the wall and studies it. Looking it over, he notices that the glass is white all over, but the main colors standing out are: green, orange, and purple. A green grown, and orange bracelet, and a purple necklace. Walking over to the smaller versions of the window, he nods.

"I think we have to get these three colors to show up in thw window box. I'm not sure what's gonna happen, but that seems to be the trick of the room."

"I guess we press until its right." Colt looks over the wall then heads for the third picture. Pressing the switch below, he sees them all turn yellow.

Rocky presses the button closest to him and they all turn green.

When Tum tum pressed a button the windows went back to white. Shoot.

"Maybe if we try around the other side." Rocky wonders outloud heading back around the corner they had turned. He'd tell them to let him know what they see, but its obvious when all the windows seem to respond to each other. Pressing the button of the first picture, he sees purple. But it doesn't run the entire wall. "Colt, try yours again." He called around to his brother.

Leaning forward, arm extended, hand out, he presses the button in. The lights on their end turned red but only two of them. Colt pressed the button again, but it turned them all white. "Crap." He muttered. "Rocky, press yours again." He asked. When the lights turned purple, Colt pressed the same button but then pressed the one beside it instead. "That look orange to you?"

"Yeah. ...We need to be careful with the other button. It might turn the lights white again." Rocky replied. He scrutinized the two windows beside the purple and orange on his end. _'They may change the colors to the same on both sides but... maybe the switches are different?'_ Pressing the button beneath yellow window on his end he sees it turn red. Pressing it again, it returns to yellow. "Tum tum press the yellow on your side."

With the simple flip of the switch, the window turned green. They waited for something to spring out at them, but nothing happened. Are they in the wrong order?

"Rocky, there's a button below the larger one. Should I press it?" Colt asks.

"Yeah, go ahead." He's walking around the corner.

The room groaned, and the ravens kawed like mad as the stain glass wall slid out of the way. Its a secret door! Startled by the movement of the wall, the ravens let out a frightened cry and circle about the room over the boys' ducked heads. The three ninjas cover their heads with their arms and ducks down while the squawking frightened animals flap about in a panic, before they spot the exit outside, where they all fly to out into the early morning sky.

Seeing that the danger is over, Colt looks out of the gaping hole in the wall. "We've seen this place before. It's the graveyard." Colt noticed the headstones, and the weeds.

With all the tension in the air, the cold air was much appreciated by them. It was like living in a small dark box this house; and while in that house now and then you're being poked by a seering hot fireplace poker coming at you from every and any side. They needed the fresh air.

"What's this?" Tum tum stoops down and lifts an object from the ground. "Ugh, this thing is ugly. Who would put a mask outside?" He turns the ugly grey slab of hollow stone around in his hand. "See." He says to Rocky when his brother reached out a hand for it.

"Its missing the nose... I think I've seen this before." He chews his bottom lip thoughtfully. "Inside the crypt! Remember the masks statues- they were all missing something! Maybe we have to put these on them."

"Yeah! Didn't Jill say she was looking for a way that would lead us out of here?" Colt gets his turn holding the light slab of stone. "There could be a secret evactuation place! But, there were four statues, right?"

"Guess we have to find three more." Tum Tum replies.

"Yeah." Rocky takes the mask back. "Let's put it on now, since we're already here. That way we won't have to carry them around."

"Good idea." Tum tum comments.

Rocky and Tum tum look about for Colt who managed to get away on them. Spotting their brother, they walk over to his kneeling form, and they can see that he's picking the lock, or rather that he had picked it since he's now pushing the iron door open.

"Its open." He bragged with a cocky little grin.

"Yeah, where were you three doors ago." Rocky teased, giving his brother a slap to the torso with the back of his hand.

"It comes and goes." Colt retorts with a shrug, following his brothers out of the small gated porch. But he paused before closing the door behind him.

He could have sworn he heard a... a chain? Not only that, but it felt as if someone were watching him again. But from where? They were all just inside the bizzare art gallery, so there was no way someone could have gotten in without them hearing.

"Guys wait up!" Colt called out rushing after them.

A low huff sounded in Colt's departure. Someone is definitely watching them... or maybe, watching him.

4 4 4 4

"Jessica, have you seen this?" Mori asks his daughter.

Its just after breakfast and he's seated on the couch, a cup of green tea before him on the coffee table and the newspaper on the couch at his side.

"What?" She called from the kitchen at the sink where she's washing dishes.

"In the newspaper," He lifts it. "It says the bodies of some hikers were found in the mountains of Arklay in Vermont."

"Arklay? Isn't that where Sam and the boys are?" She shakes her hands dry then grabs a couple napkins from the roll to further dry them as she heads into the livingroom.

"That's what I was thinking, but the people in the photograph aren't them." Mori answered. "I thought they'd be on their way home because of this, that's why I called to you." He stands from the couch. "Have they called or anything?"

"No. I thought that was weird, they must be having a pretty good time if they've forgotten to phone home."

"Maybe they're just on their way back, or they've had to move to find another camping spot."

"I'm not sure if they'd of seen a newspaper out in the woods, Dad. Maybe the cops looking into it spotted them and informed them." She takes the offered paper to read the artical herself. "Sam wouldn't let it go, even if its not his jurisdiction."

"...You may be right."

"I hope their someplace safe though, it says the bodies found looked slightly eaten. They may have problems with hungry forest animals as well as an escaped fugitive to deal with."

"They'll be alright against any fugitive, they're ninja." Mori assures his daughter. "But forest animals... at least Sam has his gun."

4 4 4 4

Rocky pushed the noseless mask into place on the statue head that has a nose filled in. The three jumped in startle when a chain popped from overhead. Following the sound, they see the large coffin that's stuck to the ceiling has just lost one of its bindings which keeps it up there.

"I could be wrong, but I don't think putting these masks up will open any secret doors out of here..." Comments Colt. He's already got a sinking feeling in his gut because of the 'Peeping Tom' watching them inside the house.

"Maybe not, but something really usefull could be in that coffin." Resigned Rocky. "We're gonna have to get it down."

Colt gave a doubtful shrug. "Alright. Let's go look for more masks."

"Colt, if you've got a problem, please, speak up now." Rocky insists in a less than kindly tone.

"No. I've got no problem. What choice do we have anyway?" He shrugs. "Let's just go."

Sighing in exasperation with the situation and his brother's impatience, Rocky left the crypt after Colt. Tum tum in tow.

"We need to keep clear heads here." Rocky was insistant on pushing the issue.

"You're one to talk!" Snapped Colt.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rocky snipped in response.

"One minute you're freaking out, the next you go all Robo-Rocky on us... if something's wrong you need to tell us." Colt lowered his tone. "You can't just keep things to yourself and hope it works out."

"If I thought for a minute that something were wrong with me, I would tell you. But as far as I'm concerned I'm just coping, don't judge me on how. If I'm scared, I'm scared. If I wanna go all 'Robo-Rocky', as you call it, I will. but I'm not gonna go around worried about if something is wrong with me!"

"Guys!" Tum tum interupts. "Can we please stop arguing!"

He hates it when his brothers fight. It always seems so much more than a spat. It seems like they're ready to go to war on each other. And its scary to think they'd get to that degree with each other. They're supposed to love each other. _He_ loves _them_! And he's fairly sure they love him. So then what the hell?

The two fueding brothers glare at each other as if in a silent arguement, at which they coolled their tempers after the dispute was mentally finished.

"I'm sorry." Rocky says. "I really will tell either of you if I feel funny in any way." He added. "I promise."

"That's all we ask."

Nodding, Rocky looks to Tum Tum and says whole heartedly. "Sorry, Tum."

"Yeah, me too."

Rolling his eyes, he throws his hands up in defeat. "Let's just find a kitchen and get some snacks. I'm still starving. Its been a whole day already."

"We'll get something to eat. Come on." Rocky takes the path that will lead them back to the main hall.

They weren't three steps into the hall when they heard a voice crying for help!

"It came from over there!" Points Rocky before taking off.

Sighing in dismay, Colt mutters. "There he goes again."

But he darts off as well. The voice was female. It could be Jill! The three head right and into the hall where they found themselves trapped by the hoard of zombies that broke into the office.

"Where are you?" Called Rocky into the airspace.

"I'm in here!" Called the voice that, closer now, doesn't sound at all like Jill's but higher. Younger. "You'll have to unlock the door, I can't move!"

Turning his head, Rocky holds his hand out for the key then unlocks the door once its in his palm. Barging into the room, knives poised to attack, they spot a pair of people on the floor, hunched in the corner. One of them, a male, is suverely injured. He's not only got blood all over his orange shirt, but its torn, and there's a strange yellowish substance mixed with the blood.

"What happened?" Rocky asked kneeling down.

"He's been attacked by something huge." Says the female holding him in her arms; his head rests on her lap. "He keeps speaking in and out. I didn't wanna leave him alone."

"A giant..." The man began to cough. "snake... bit me." He groaned in pain. "In there." His hand wouldn't even lift to point at the door ahead of them within the small cubical of a foyer.

The three look about the foyer. Its very plain compared to the rest of the home. White walls, a divider of brown lining it. A large square support beam, to give it some depth, leaves the room with a little sort of circle to walk before you decide to go through one door or the other. Rocky spots some potted plants that have green herbs growing from them.

"Here. Give him these, they might help with the pain."

"I think he's been poisoned." States the young woman. "There's a room with medicine, but I can't move him. He needs the poisoned stopped right now."

"We can go get it for you?" Colt says.

"Thank you! That would be very helpful." Replied the girl. "You'll find a bottle, brown glass, purple lettering. You can't miss it."

"Where's the room?" Tum tum asks.

"Have you got a map? Its not far."

"Right here." Rocky hands over both maps.

Pulling a marker from her pocket, she scribbles on a room right across the way from here. "Go! Hurry!"

"Rocky, you stay here and guard them. Tum tum and me will go get the medicine."

Rocky nods, and takes a defensive position before the sprawled out couple, while Rocky and Tum tum vanished into the hall. "Good luck you two."

"Its right across from here, we can take a short cut through the balcony." Colt says.

They hurry across the catwalk surrounding the upper mainhall and to the single door where they got the false key from the dog collar. Pulling the door open, they charge through as quickly as they can. It was a good thing Rocky had the foresight to check the door, it'd be locked otherwise. They're almost there, just have to get downstairs through this next door.

"Walkers." Colt jumped back when spotting two deadheads swaying in the hall of the stairwell.

"Are you gonna shoot 'em?"

"No. There's too many, one shot will bring the other two running and we'll be screwed without a third set of eyes." Thoughtfully licking his mouth, he nods. "I've got an idea."

"There's a scary thought." Whispered Tum Tum; receiving a slap on the back of the head.

Removing his survival knife, he gets a good grip on it; locking sight of the target he hurls the knife over the distance of themselves, and the stairs to where the zombie is standing. It landed point blank in the top the slumped over male's head. With a low groan, he hissed and hit the floor like a slowly deflating balloon.

"Now for the other two."

"Here, take mine." He hands Colt the knife. "I've got an idea too."

"Now _that_ is a reason to be afraid."

The hall is structured like this: Before the two ninjas is a five foot walk to a door at their right, at their left is the wide open space of an area that can be seen as both stairwell and hall. There's a wrap around catwalk, and on the other side of the railing is where the opening to the stairs is; and where a zombie is idling up and down. It doesn't seem to see them yet. Left from the stairs opening is another hall about seven or eight feet in length with two doors, one at your right and one dead ahead. There's also a large window placed in the center wall infront of the stairs at the halls turn. The windows are fogged over, making it hard for daylight to really illuminate as it should.

Cupping his hands at his mouth, he let out a loud Indian war cry that he learned from Jo. That got their attention! And it needed to. After all, a man's life is at steak! The undead at the bend of the stairwell came charging around the corner for them. Head slumped as he runs at warp speed to get to the sound, his limbs swaying back and forth as he staggers. Tum tum dropped to the floor sweeping his foot against the zombies legs knocking him down.

"Now Colt!"

Straddling the fallen cannible, he plunges the weapon deep into the soft spot on the back of his neck beneath the backgrowth of his skull. Only when the man stopped wriggle does Colt remove himself. The other zombie on the stairs saw the oppertunity and grabbed Colt by the ankle through the slotted railing, jerking him toward him.

Colt grunted as he reached down by his ankle and took off the man's fingers in quick swipe. He unfortunately cut himself on the ankle as well. "Aaa! He cried, but kept hacking at the hungry hand that was trying to jerk him into an even hungrier mouth.

Tum tum was as quick as he could in retrieving his brother's knife, and pulling it free from fluffy, sticky brain matter was no easy feet but he did it. And once it was free he dashed down the three stairs it took to reach the snarling blood thirsty man, and with as much strength as his young arms could muster, he sliced open the man's throat. Blood gushed and spilled all over the place, and he dropped heavily to his knees before tumbling down the stairs a bloody, and fully dead heap.

"Colt, are you-?"

"Nevermind me, get the medicine!" He snapped.

"Got it." Careful as to not slip on the river of blood spilled, Tum tum rushed down the stairs and into a room directly off the stairs landing and beside it. He paused for a second seeing a zombie laying in a heap on the floor, but it showed no signs of life- or re-life rather- so he continued into the room.

It certainly looked like medical room, a desk in the upper left corner, a bed right beside it, next to that- the medicine shelf! Hurrying over, he thinks to himself. What color did that woman say the bottle was...?

"Tum, is brown glass with purple lettering, did you find it!" Colt called from upstairs.

"Right!" Snapping up the bottle, he hurried out of the room. "I got it." He didn't tell Colt that it was a good thing that he'd shouted to him, because he forget. He doesn't wanna look like dead weight or a liability. "We'd better get moving."

"Help me, I cut my ankle pretty bad." Colt reaches for his little brother, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "I can hobble pretty fast, so don't slow down for my sake."

"Got it."

And the two hurried as quickly as they could.

4 4 4 4

"You've got the bottle?" Asked the young woman.

"Right here." Tum tum hands it to her.

"What happened to your ankle?" Rocky noticed the blood. "Were you bit?"

"No. I cut myself trying to get one of them to back off."

"Here, Richard, drink this."

The slumped man opened his mouth and took the medicine down.

"He should be alright if this medicine works quickly enough." Says the girl. "I wish I had a place to keep him safe so he can rest."

"There was a bed in the room with the medicine, remember. He can sleep there. Its safe enough." Tum tum answered.

"Will you help me move him?"

"Sure."

"I'll follow you, just go." Colt insisted when Rocky put an arm around him to help him out as well.

"Okay."

He, Tum tum and the young woman lift the fallen man and carry him out of the room. Colt lagged but he followed as quickly as he could.

...

The young woman situated her friend Richard on the bed, and left a chair open for Colt to have a seat. "I'm Rebecca by the way."

"Hi, Rebecca. I'm Rocky." He holds out a hand to shake hers. "This is my brother Colt, and Tum tum."

"Nice to meet you guys." She says. Running a hand up the back of her short cut brown hair, she looks Colt over. "I'd better fix that ankle." Noticing their stares she adds. "I'm with S.T.A.R.S Bravo team, I'm a medic. What are you all doing here?"

They explained what happened and she patched up Colt's ankle as they spoke. "I see. I wasn't supposed to be here either, but the train I was on crashed out in the woods. It was overrun by zombies, just like here."

"Are you serious?" Colt asks.

"Mhm." Rebecca went on to say. "I was with a fugitive and a few other team members but we all got seperated."

"Just like us with dad." Rocky says sadly.

"You should stay off this for a while." Rebecca says to Colt. "I can stay here, while the two of you look for your father... you said there as another person here alive... Jill? Maybe you can find her too. I haven't seen anyone aside from you guys and Richard."

They look at the man, who's wheezing, but sleeping soundly.

"Are you sure?" Asks Rocky.

"Sure. I may be a medic, but I was trained to use a gun as well."

"Colt, would you be okay with staying here for a while?"

"Yeah, go on. Get some more of those mask things."

Hesitant, the two leave the room. Colt sighed in defeat, and closed his eyes.

"I know how you feel. I just want this nightmare over too." Comments Rebecca.

Though Colt nodded, it wasn't the nightmare that was making him weary, but that feeling that- once again- he's being watched.


	6. A Turn for the Worse

Rocky walked carefully around the corner of the dimmly lit hall. He held his hand out in order to stop his younger brother from swirving around the corner like a mad-truck. For the past few trips through any of these downstairs halls, Rocky's been hearing a lot of commotion lurking beyond the mansion walls. A restless sort of lurking that would easily spell trouble if the restless got in. A few undead men here and there are nothing compared to an entire army of restless and hungry monsters. Aside from the lightning reflecting on trees casting creepy shadows on the walls from outside, the hall is clear.

"But there're two doors.." Tum tum answered an unasked question. "Which way do we go?"

"The closest first." Rocky made the decision easily. "You open the door, and I'll cover you." He says to Tum tum; grip strengthening around his survival knife, he waits for the room to be opened before him.

Tum waited until he was sure his brother wouldn't be rushed by anything exiting the room once he opens the door, then he turned the knob and backed away, bringing the door open with him. "Is it too horrible? Do you need back up?" He asked coming from around the door. Seeing that Rocky just waltzed into the room, he let his guard down and followed in after him. "Cool! Another shotgun!" He called out. Snatching the gun up, he frowns and puts it back down. "Its all rusted up and bent." He wipes his hands.

Rocky had an expression on his face that said something along the lines of: Which is exactly why I didn't warn you about being careful with it. "It must be a storage room." He comments to himself.

Its dusty, and filled with broken things: the shotgun, an old warn out desk, and a china cabinet missing the glass panes and a drawer. Tum tum was starting to get an idea about what to do with the rusty old thing while Rocky cased a tank of kerocine. Rocky was sure they needed some more since they've already wasted what was in the tiny flask.

"Tum, can you hold this canteen for me?" He hands the little silver square to his brother, who sets down the old gun. Kneeling, he removes a skinny hose from beside the tank and shoves one end into the flask, the other into the tank. Syphoning the liquid out, Rocky watches the small flask fill with the brown liquid. "That should do it. Thanks." He takes the canteen back from his brother.

"Should we explore some more?" Tum tum asks. "We've finally got a new key, Dad could be locked up somewhere behind one of these doors."

"I know. We look around the next hall, then we head back." Rocky states. Removing the map, he follows the trail they've just taken then. "This hall has three rooms in it. That should be enough searching for right now."

"Okay." Standing from his kneel, he brushes a hand down his wrinkled up jeans to free his knees from having the pant all bunched up around them. Spotting a notebook on top of the broken desk, Tum tum lifts it, turning its cover to the middle of the book. It seemed whomever was taking notes never got to finish because his words are cut off. "Listen to this, the workers must have lived here in the house. This guy sounds like one of them."

Rocky took the book from his little brother then began to read it out-loud. "My work is finally done in the lab..."

_I worked for seven hours straight today! I'm gonna need something to eat. I hope the others restocked the fridge. Its hard getting a good meal around here when everyone is so work driven._

_I ate a turkey sandwich after work down in the kitchen. I watched from the corner of my eye as Frank Jensen paced the room muttering to himself; clutching his stomach with his forearm. He had a picture of his wife Eileen in his hand. I wonder what he's so upset about. He's mumbling in such a way it sounds as if he's suffering of a stutter. Weird. Not the first time anyone around here has been acting strangely either... Last weekend Benard was raving like a lunatic about how he wasn't going to tend to the dogs anymore. Those damned things are giving everyone problems, they've... well, to put it mildly, they've stopped listening to us. One even bit me, but it was just a little nick. I have to go back to the lab and tend to the monkeys later. So boring. The only interesting thing I can do down there is watch them throw poop at each other... although, I've never seen grey poop before. Like I said, its weird around here._

_What the hell just happened down there! I saw Tino, the monkey laying on the floor and I... I was practically mauled by the others! They weren't throwing poop... They were throwing Tino's brain. He's been dead for weeks.. how did they? When did they? Oh God... my body hurts so much!_

A smear of blood was all that remained on the paper...

"I wanna say he got what he deserved but..." Tum tum shook his head.

He supposed it wasn't the workers fault he was hired to do these things. Although, he could have said no once he found out about what was going on. If he'd found out. Do any of the people working here know what's happened to them? Do they see weird things going on and just write it off. It seemed that way with how he just watched this other guy muttering as he paced the kitchen. Tum tum rubbed his arm to get the frightened chill from it.

"We better get moving." Rocky suggests.

The two exit the room and head over to the door at their right. Rocky stuck the key into the lock and with luck it turned.

Smiling, the older ninja says. "We're in."

"I'll cover you."

Covered as he was, Rocky is still poised to take care of most of the battling. He can't have his youngest brother getting hurt. He's still kicking himself that Colt got hurt. He hopes he's all right, and can recover quickly. That Rebecca seemed to know her stuff. But still, he's gonna worry until Colt is back on his feet.

"Is it clear?" Tum tum whispers.

"Looks that way..." Rocky waited for his brother to enter then quietly closed the door after them. "I can hear rustling around though. So we'd better be more careful."

Tum Tum nods his reply.

The hall lit up before their eyes as a flash of lightning staggered through the sky outside. Rocky flicked at the light switch he pawed for beside the door, but only a small light came on a short ways down the hall at the right of opening the door. Another light is on even farther down the hall passed the windows.

"There's a candle thingy." Tum tum whispers to point out a candelabra sitting atop a fancy cabinet that reminded the young boy of a dresser without any drawers. "Do you have a match?"

Rocky looked at his brother as if he were an alien. "Just forget it. We can see well enough with the light coming in from the window."

Which was a lie, but Rocky was trying to keep his nerves steady. Ever since he got bit by that dog he's felt jittery and edgy. Its like his skin is crawling to get away from his insides. He can't tell his brother's about it, they'd only think he's weak or that they have to protect him and that's the last thing he wants is to put more pressure on them to rush into battle on his behalf. Scratching his arm, he looks left then right. "Let's go down this way instead." Rocky points to the right.

He doesn't like the way the rain is tapping at the window glass. It sounds so... alive. No real rhythmless rhythm to it. Just a dull steady tapping. Tum tum gave his brother a side long glance, but doesn't question his changed mind, and instead follows him down the hall to where the tiny light is illuminating.

"Three doors, should we go inside?" Tum asked reaching for the door knob of the tiny little hole in the wall where the light was coming from. He figured that it was a linen closest. That's what his mother would have used it for, but when he opened it he was very surprised by what he saw, and it showed on his face enough to bring Rocky from looking over the map.

"What's in there?"

"For a minute I thought that it was real, look." He pushes the door open a lot wider.

A small room is revealed, its similar to a ticket booth at a theater only the ticker seller is boxed in not only by the booth itself but the tiny room built around it. Inside is a large white tiger head. Rocky and Tum Tum enter the room to get a better look.

"Bet this cost more than all three of our lives put together." Tum tum mused. "Do you think its weird that Umbrella would have workers living in a place this nice?"

"Maybe they're faking it. You know; give people a nice living space and you can handle them however you want later."

"That's terrible."

"What's terrible is that Emily is taking those dieting pills... what if something happens to her? What if she gets sick?"

"I know. Wish we could call home or something... but we're trapped here- we can't go outside." He leans a hand on the podium where the tiger's head rest. "This is the worst summer ever."

Rocky hated to say it out loud, but he completely agreed with his little brother on that statement. But then again, it could be a good thing that they stumbled upon this place, they could save a lot of lives if they can get out of here and tell everyone what they know. The police wouldn't listen to them, but they'd listen to their dad.

"We should-.." Rocky started to say, but got cut off.

"What do you think this means?" Asks Tum Tum pointing to the plaque. "Some tigers have blue and some have gold." He reads.

"Not sure, but this one doesn't have any." Rocky noticed. "Let's get moving. I don't wanna leave Colt and Rebecca for too long."

"Okay."

Heading out of the room, the two walk down the hall to the farthest door. Rocky turned the lock then slowly pushed it open. He recognized the hall easily. Its the hall passed the dining room. Its better to leave it unlocked, Rocky decided. They could be fleeing something and need a quick exit. It would be bad if this door were it and it was locked off. He gave Tum tum a scolding look when, upon backing up, he bumped into the male. The younger boy shrugged an apology, then turned to the next door.

"This one's open." He says to his brother. Turning the knob, he froze after a few steps inside. "A zo-..." He points.

Rocky moved to the front of their small line to abserve. He looked over as his brother threw him a panicked questioning look. Rocky shook his head because he wasn't sure if the large male on the floor is undead or actually dead. There's a large puddle of blood beneath his body and as far as they can tell he's laying perfectly still.

Rocky's dual colored eyes scan around the room. Its literally a bedroom: a twin bed sits right beside the door; the blanket has spats of blood on and, from the way the cover is tugged away a bit, so does the sheet. There's a suitcase half packed from where someone, maybe even the man currently on the floor looked as though he were packing to leave. Smart decision. Too bad he'd made it too late. Past the bed is a small desk filled with a scatter of papers, directly across from that is a closet with slatted doors.

"We can go over the bed, just incase." Rocky says in a soft tone.

Nodding, Tum tum urgently crosses over the bed to the other side of the room where its safe, Rocky does the same. There panicked movement caught the attention of the man on the floor, who's movement went unnoticed since he was laying face down in his past kill, lapping gently at the blood spilled all around him. The puddle bubbled where his breath quietly wheezed from his throat at the smell of something new.

"This is a diary," Rocky inspects.

"They sure keep a lot of 'em around here. Must of been the only thing keeping them sane, huh Rock'?"

Rocky didn't answer, too busy reading through the pages. "This might tell us where the lab is. Then we can find Dad and get out of here."

"What's it say?" He holds onto his brother's arm to look over into the booklet.

_This whole thing is just getting weirder and weirder. Its like the more people head down into the lab, the stranger their behavior is when they return. Martin went down there yesterday and since then the fuckers' been standing outside of my door- just standing! Never wanting anything, or saying anything... its eerie._

_Me and some of the other guys were playing poker one night in Jackson's room. It was a pretty great time, we were looking at some magazines and smoking- we're not allowed to drink in this house- Eric thinks that's part of the reason some of the guys have been acting so strangely. Being liqour free tends to bring out the worst in people. I hope that's the case... someone from BL3 said there was a small leak somewhere and they haven't found it just yet. Do you know what untested chemicals can do to a person? I've seen chemical burns from guys who have been in the boiler room and they aren't pretty._

_Nov 17th._

_Martin was in my room today- how did he even get in!? I was sure the door had been locked, but then again it was a pretty long night of work. He said nothing to me, he just stood there with this dumb look on his face. I asked him what his deal was, if he wanted to take a trip into town for a drink or something and he lunged at me! We actually sat there in this... I don't know, shoving struggle!_

_He drooled in my mouth, he kept... I know this is gonna sound weird but, he kept trying to bite me! He managed to get in a good one too, on my left arm. It wouldn't have happened if I weren't momentarily distracted by yelling over the pain his fingernails were causing me by digging into my skin. I... I had to do it! I had to... to... dammit I snapped his neck! He hit the floor like a lump of meat.. and I... I shoved him out into the hall. This damn bite is pretty deep, I'd better get it checked out._

_Nov 18th._

_I must have done it wrong! I mean, I've never killed a man before so... naturally its normal that Martin got up, right? Right? He just keeps showing up at my damned door at night! Am I going crazy? Maybe he... maybe he isn't really there..._

_Nov 20th._

_They still can't do anything for this bite on my arm, its... it almost looks like its infected. I don't know hwdfgiot to do anyfhwgig there are others outside of my door. I hear them banging and they... they have no expression, no life in their eyes. Its like they don't even know where they are, they just want in. I'm gonna hide in the closet._

"Weird... did he even notice he was doing that?" Tum tum asked when seeing the squiggles and scribbles on the page.

"I'm not sure... I think he might have been... infected." He hated saying it as much as he hated hearing it. Could one bite really turn a person as well?

_I fall asleep and I my jaw gets slack... I went ten minutes unable to see anyfring. Wait... I need to. I'm so hungry and my arm smells so good- no dinner! Dinner smells good from where they kitchen it. Why does my head hurt?_

_So hungry. So hungry. Hungry. Hungry. Hungry and my flesh is so good. So good. So itchy too. So itchy and tasty. Itchy. Tasty. Itchy. Tasy..._

Blood and ink ran from there, the diary ended.

"Rocky... the guy on the floor," Tum tum began. "we had a pretty good view of his arms, and they weren't bitten."

"You think that-.."

He didn't get to finish his statement as the closet doors slid open with a loud thwak! There was the bite on the arm! Full of maggots, and dripping with blood. Blood? He must not have been dead for very long if he can still bleed. Oh shit! His speed was impressive as he rushed forward.

"Tum tum!" Rocky called out.

But his little brother moved too late and is now down on the floor in a struggle. Rocky grabbed the undead man by his bloodied, thin scatters of hair and began to tug in order to jerk him off of the younger male. But he hadn't seen the man on the floor getting up, and he hadn't seen him coming over. But he was very aware when a grip as strong as a vice grabbed him by the shoulder. The man moaned horribly while leaning over to bite Rocky anywhere!

Back painfully slammed into the desk, Rocky struggles to keep the larger man from finding a place to bite down on him. A normal opponent of this size would be nothing to the ninja normally, but this man knows no relent, and his strength seems boundless! It was a struggle, with his hand being on the desk to keep him upright, and the other keeping his neck safe from being lunch, Rocky grunted as he struggled to push the man off.

"What was that?!" Rebecca asked standing up.

Colt heard the gun shots as well. His brother's must have run into some trouble. "Rocky and Tum tum must have run into some guys. Its so damned weird... have you ever seen anything like this?"

"Yeah... unfortunately me and my team B.R.A.V.O have encountered something very similar to this just a while ago..." Her brown gaze went heavy as the memory of what she and her team had gone through went flashing through her mind.

"What happened?" Colt asked.

"We were instructed to transport a very dangerous criminal to a safe prison in San Fransico, Billy Koen, but something happened onboard of the train. One minute we were riding along as normal, then some guy started screaming in one of the front cars. He was being bitten!"

Colt swallowed around a dry lump in his throat. How could it be happening somewhere else?

"The guy who did it was like... it was like he was in a trance. He even came at my captain to the point where he had to shoot the man. But the weird thing is... he'd gotten back up! He was shot several more times in the chest and they didn't even faze him... It wasn't until a shot hit him in the head that he stayed down. Billy slipped away from us during the commotion, the next stop was coming up and we couldn't allow him to get away so we all began to search the train for him. It was just weird how it happened... how everything was normal and then..." She shakes her head. Even now she still can't believe it. "But all the passangers who've been bitten, they died... we checked their pulses, but they got up again. They were like murderous zombies!"

Colt had to agree with that because that's exactly what they were. It wasn't enough that they died and came back, but they're murderous. Strong. They have no feelings towards what they're doing. No care. Just a lust for death. Death. Colt touched his thigh as if that could console the pain in his heel. It was feeling somewhat better but not by much. He needs to heal so he can help his brothers, find their father, and they can get the Hell out of dodge.

"I teamed up with Billy once I found him, I'd lost my entire team on that train. By the end of it, we had to abandon the train because it was teaming with zombies. Billy and I were the only ones to live. The train crashed some distance away, we don't know how it got off track."

_'That must have been the loud boom we'd heard while camping!'_ Colt declared to himself.

"I let Billy escape, it turned out that he was innocent of his charges anyway. When we seperated... I caught up with a team assigned to check out this mansion, but we were chased from the forest by these rabid dogs and wound up in this mansion. We all sort of got lost from each other since entering. Some of us didn't even get out of the forest, the dogs ate them..." Her tone lowered to a whisper. "It was the most horrific thing I've ever known."

"Sorry."

"Its fine. How did all of you end up here? Surely you're part of any military team or anything like that." She joked to lighten the mood.

"We were camping with our dad, he's gone missing like the rest of your team." He scoots himself back to sit up a bit more. "We've been looking for him since yesterday I think, hard to tell with all the crap on the windows."

"I see."

Four shots fire off in the distance. "That sounded like it came from upstairs." Rebecca stands from her seat on the desk. "I'm gonna go check it out."

"Okay. Be careful."

"You too. Will you be alright if I leave you here? I'll be back in a moment."

"I'll be fine. Besides, someone has to watch your friend over there." Colt nods to Richard who's laying on the bed, recovering from the poison of the snake bite.

Very big ass snake bite. He hoped like anything that wherever the snake was is where it stayed. A few scattered deadmen all around is fine, but he can't deal with giant reptiles. How could anything even leave a bite like that? He thought that movie Anacanda was an exageration. Guess not.

"Thanks." Rebecca pulled his attention from doctoring the bedridden male. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Nodding, Colt watches her leave. "Hang in there buddy." He says to Richard while shifting in his seat.

...

Tum Tum wasn't sure what possessed him to move, but he began scooting his heels against the floor which moved him beneath the bed. The hungry undead was so focused on biting him that he didn't even realize that he was being smashed into the metal framing, which was removing him from the young boy as he scooted away to safety beneath the bed and out of the other side. His ankle was grabbed but a few expertly placed kicks took care of that.

"Rocky!" He called out. Looking left then right, he leaps onto the bed jump kicking into the zombie attached to his brother.

The man slammed into the wall with a thud so heavy Tum tum was sure he'd go through the wall. But Rocky wasn't so lucky because the moment he was freed the man that had tried for Tum tum had him pinned to the wall with his arms stuck at his sides. Rocky shoved his leg into the wall and gave a good solid push with his foot, sending them both backward and onto the bed- as well as on top of Tum tum.

The pile up would have been commical if it weren't so frightening. Three men piled up on a bed and wriggling and shoving at one another to get free. Not to mention the man who'd been kicked into the wall found his barrings and has gotten back up. But Rocky got his barrings back as well.

"Tum, catch!" He chucks his survival knife up and over his shoulder.

Tum tum almost missed what was going on, but he caught the knife around its blade, being sure not to secure his grip until the handle is in his other hand. "Haa!" He cried out when his attacked hit its mark. He'd grabbed the man by the wisps of his hair, and shoved the knife directly up into his open mouth.

Blood squirted on anything within reach; Rocky clamped his mouth shut to keep the toxic red out of his system. The sound was digusting, something like a cow sucking its hoove from a huge mud patch, or someone with a really stuffed nose just decongesting, or one of those jars of seltzer water like you see on all the old gag shows. It was a hard nausious sounding spray. Bleh.

When the man's grip loosened around Rocky, the green ninja sprang up from the bed to address the recovering undead man who's extended arms almost reached out and grabbed him once again. He gave him a very powerful spinning kick knocking him clean into the closet where he emerged from.

"Come on, let's get out of here." He barks to his little brother while making for the door, hand held out to take Tum tum's to pull him along at the speed of someone with much longer legs.

The man in the closet was trapped in a swath of hung-up clothing, the clatter of clothes hangers rattled in their leave; monsterous groans accompany it. Rocky slammed the door closed, throwing caution of others overhearing the loud sound to the wind. He just wanted them out of harms way. Hopefully the man will go back to his unanimated restful state once he realizes they've gone. Not to mention there's the storm. The rumbles could be throwing off the hearing of any undead inhabitant in the area.

"Should we search the room down the hall or go back with Colt and Rebecca?"

"We have to check, Dad could be anywhere in here. He may even be camped out hurt. We have to try to put our fears aside and find him. He'd do the same for us." Rocky glanced at the door to the room where they'd just come from.

That man had been in the closet for some time hiding out from the other guy who'd kept coming to his room... What if anyone bitten changes. What if all the recovery herbs in the world don't make that any better? Rocky walked slowly down the hall, feeling the weight of his 'what ifs'. He was bitten pretty badly by that dog, and though he's on the mend, he can't deny that he's felt funny since. As if his senses and his nerves as being scraped with a fine edged razor. Now that he noticed, he's actually starting to sweat a little.

Wiping his forehead, he catches up to Tum tum, who was already rounding the corner.

"Aaa!" He yelled, slamming his back into the wall to protect himself from something that frightened him.

"What happened?" Rocky hurried to his brother's side, receiving an unanswered explanation.

A man all matters of tattered, his clothing from being attacked, his hair from having it ripped into at the scalp, even bits of his torso are missing, is just banging on the window at the sight of his own victims while in this personal Hell. The sight of the man had Rocky feeling even more itchy, and he unconsciously scratched his arm.

"I don't think he knows we're here. We'd better get moving though." He says to Tum tum.

The younger boy watched the man mindlessly pop himself into the large window for a moment more before following Rocky on ahead. The sound of water greeted them before they even opened the door. Does this lead outside? Rocky cracked the door open and spotted the reason for the bubbling water sounds.

"Its a water fountain." Rocky declares. Pushing the door open farther he walks in.

"Its an indoor green house... cool." Tum Tum looks around the room. "Look, one of those masks we need." He points to the back of the room.

There, past a slew of shelves housing more of Umbrella's plant life, the large fountain where a bunch of vines have overgrown inside of it, and a bunch of box plants that looked like they carry maybe ferns? Tum tum is no plant expert because much like with mysteries its more Rocky's forte. But back there sits another of the stone masks they planned to collect.

"Awesome. Dad's not here, but we at least got something out of this." Rocky says crossing the room.

It was that instant. Rocky moved around the boxed plant, and the plant in the fountain moved in for Rocky.

"Whoa!" He voiced when being snatched up around the ankle and jerked into the air.

"Rocky!" Tum tum called out. He watched in horror as his brother is swung around the room by his ankle. What can he do?! Looking around, he wonders how deep the main root is to the plant, maybe he can cut it.

Another vine shot out and grabbed the younger ninja around his torso giving him a constricting squeeze. Though shielding his face with his forearms, Rocky was no match for the force in which he is batted around the indoor green room, and is out cold when the plant hurls him into a shelf of plant grow powder and pottery.

"Rock...y.." Tum tum kicked his legs to fight the grip around him, but it did no good. Darkness peppered his vision and before he even knew that he was flying towards the back of the room he passed out.


	7. Been Searching For So Long

Author's Note: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you like the story, and it'll hopefully get better. I've been studying up on writing horror, so I'm really going for some scare factor.

Thanks for reading everybody!

...

Rocky could feel his pulse, slowly beating through his veins... no. That's not right. It isn't his pulse... its off somehow. It feels like someone else's. But whose? He stirred in place on the floor; he feels so heavy right now. Like dead weight. His bones creaked and ached when he pressed his hand to the floor to aid in shoving himself into a seated position. Breathing labored, he looked around, through blurred vision, for his little brother. He spots him over by the fountain; the long vines of the plant lay dormant inside and around his brother, probably believed him dead. Can a plant even think like that? Should it? The dead are walking after all, anything seemed possible in this researchers' home.

"Tum tum?"

His bones groaned inside of him as he crawled over to his little brother. He grunted and expressed his weakness through exhausted breaths as he inched towards the boy closer and closer. He felt his hand tremble when he touched Tum tum's still finger tips. His tastebuds began to salivate for some reason, imagining pulsing muscle and tasty rich blood, and before he even knew what it was that he was doing, he lifts the hand up to his mouth and takes a bite.

"Aaah!" Tum tum's hand jerked to him and he sat up in a hurry. "Rocky! You're awake... I think something bit me." He examined that hand that he'd pressed to his chest when sitting up. It hurt but it wasn't bleeding or anything. Must have been a bug or something.

Rocky knew what that 'or something' was. He expelled a relieved breath that Tum tum woke up and was quick enough to pull his hand away. It was so funny... he felt like... well, he felt like taking an actual bite out of his brother. Like drawing blood, and sucking tendon and bone. Crap! His mouth is watering again.

Wiping the back of his hand across it, he shakes off the hunger pangs and visually checks Tum tum over for a damage report. "Are you ok?" He asks.

"Yeah, I feel alright. That thing dropped me when I went unconcious."

"Tum..." Rocky said as warning.

Tum tum yelped and crawled over to Rocky when the plant began to wriggle and flex its vines about them as if it knew they were awake and it needed to finish the job. "Rocky... this thing isn't gonna let us leave the room."

Rocky looked around for something to beat it back with, anything would work!

"There!"

Looking over his shoulder to where Tum tum was pointing. "Weed eater?"

It was a stretch but anything was better than nothing at this point. Stumbling on shaking legs to get over to the sack standing, he felt his little brother smack into his backside while fleeing the reaching plant.

"Open that hatch," He nods over to a watering pump beside the door. "I have to get the bag open."

Tum tum hurried over to the groaning pump; it seemed the plant had other ideas as it slammed its vine into the wall before the boy's face. "Aaah!" He shrieked while falling back onto his butt, he crawled beneath the offending vine over to the pump.

It leaked water all over when he pressed the one switch and opened a little hatch on top to get to the water supply. Rocky was struggling with the sack, the fibers were tougher than he thought. His back stiffened from fear when a vine slammed into the wall after whizzing so close to his ear that the air could have actually cut him on the ear like a blade. Swearing under his breath, Rocky tries to tear it open with his teeth, but the sack was jerked from his hand when the fired up Audrey II slammed its tentical like vine through the sack like it were puncturing a human. It shriveled and shrank away revealing a weakness that not even a souped up unearthly plant like itself could handle.

Dodging attack after attack, Rocky managed to get over to the pump and dump in the weed eater, but nothing happened other than the water turning a rich red in color.

"Try a nozzle." Tum tum suggest.

"But which one?" Rocky looks them both over, there's a red and a green. 'Red usually means error, so here goes nothing.' He turns the red valve and the water comes on in the fountain.

The red liquid shot out from the top of the statue and down into the base and all over the vines and base of the plant. It wriggled and writhed and fought every second of its death, giving the boys a frightening moment of what it would be like if they sky fell and the fallen debris knew how to aim for you. Rocky covered Tum tum with his body like a human shield, or barrier by tucking him within his hold.

"Rocky?" Tum tum pleaded with his brother when he grunted in pain from having a vine slam into his back. He didn't need him to protect him, honest! But after the most grueling three minutes of their lives, the vines shriveled and calmed and died off. They even turned a different color as if to tell the trapped children that everything truely was alright.

"You ok, Rock'?"

"Yeah, nothing a trip to a back specialist couldn't fix."

Tum tum chuckled from the joke, then pushed past his brother to get up from the floor. "Guess we can get the mask now." He says while standing. Carefully, slowly, he walks over still vine, after still vine to get to the back of the room where one of the stone mask lay embedded in a wall placque. Removing it, he closed his eyes tightly waiting for something else to happen, but when the room remained still, he let out a relieved sigh.

"Well this hall is secured." Tum tum walked over to his brother, handing him the mask.

Rocky couldn't help but chuckle, leave it to Tum tum to break the tension in the air with his words of wisdom. "We'd better get back and check on Colt and the others. They'll be happy to see this." He twist and turns the mask with his hand. "Come on."

They crept carefully out into the hall, the guy at the window might still be stapled in place waiting for them to pass through. They feel no pain these things. It might just smash through the window as the dogs had before; and frankly they don't have enough ammo to have another encounter. And after the plant beating, neither male has enough strength of any kind to be engaging in hand to hand, or rather, knife verses pure desire to kill combat.

The glass and frame strained beneath the zombies weight as he leaned in harder against the window trying to touch the two wandering dinners. Rocky and Tum tum moved swiftly through the hall and out the door, and down another long hall.

"I'd sure like to get my hands on that shot gun." Tum tum says incase his brother has forgotten about the broken one they found.

"I know, Tum, and we'll do that as soon as he put this thing somewhere." Rocky means the mask.

"Why not in the wall?" He shrugged as if to say it was the most obvious choice they had to make.

Pulling open the door to the room where Colt and the others reside, Rocky cocks a brow and looks around the small space. "Hey Rebecca." He greets with an odd air to his tone.

"You're back. Did you find anything useful?" The girls asks, turning herself in the small seat next to the bed where Richard is still laying nearly conscious to the world.

"A mask," Rocky says hurrying the polite conversation to get to the more pressing matter. "Where's Colt?"

"He wasn't with the two of you?" She looks past the two as if the missing male were in plain sight somewhere and they were playing a weird joke on her.

"No." Rocky tried to staunch his growing panic by running a hand through his hair. "How did you not see him leave? Weren't you here? Didn't he tell he that he was going?" After all, people who are in the company of others seldom just vanish like an instant-transmission, if you're stared at its just not possible.

"I heard gunfire, I wondered where it was coming from so I went to check it out." Rebecca explained. "I'm sorry. I was only gone for fifteen minutes... didn't even find the person who was shooting."

"Fifteen minutes? And Tum tum and me ran into some trouble and got knocked out... I don't know for how long." Rocky almost swore but he bit it back. "We have to find him. Even if it means splitting up, he can't be alone in this house, its too dangerous!"

"I understand that." Rebecca gets up from the small chair. "I'm responsible for his being gone, I'll search as hard as I can, no matter where."

"Thank you."

"But you and your little brother should stay together." She informed them. "We only need one missing person on our hands, not two."

Nodding, Rocky opens the door to the hall. "We'll search through the east side of the house, you take west."

"There's a good chance Colt went to the bathroom in that one hall where we first came in at." Tum tum gave his opinion to where the missing ninja might have gone.

He just couldn't figure it out why Colt would leave at all unless it was something like a trip to the bathroom. They'd find out soon enough by either running into Colt on his return, or stumbling upon him in a scuffle somewhere in the massive home.

"Do you need a map?" Rocky asked Rebecca when remembering that they have two.

"No. But you'll need a radio incase you find him." She unlatches a radio from her friend's hip. "Take this. Its already set on the proper frequency for you."

"Thank you."

Nodding, Rebecca then heads out of the room taking a right down the hall.

"Can we get the shotgun while we look for Colt."

Rocky cast his brother a disbelieving look, but he allowed him to get it from the storage room before they marched back upstairs to search. The house was eerily quiet considering most of the time they could hear shuffling or soft moans coming from somewhere beyond their vision. It was like the calm before the storm.

"We're gonna have to break the no loud noises rule, he could be hurt and not know we're around." Rocky informs Tum tum who just pushed a door open with the front of the broken shotgun.

"Colt!"

His sudden shout had Rocky tense up a second, but he calmed his nerves considering the only danger from Tum tum was a busted eardrum. "Colt." Rocky called into the hall. Nothing.

"Should we go in? Maybe he's unconcious in one of the rooms."

"Could be."

Stepping into the hall where they found Richard and Rebecca, the brothers step carefully down the hall, past the room where the snake was foretold to inhabit. They continued calling out their brother's name as they stepped infront of a large set of double doors, colored blue.

Tum tum tried the key. It worked, which meant that Colt was not in the room because if he had the key to unlock it, Colt could not have gotten in.

"Should weeee check inside anyway?" Tum tum asks.

"Sssh! What was that?"

Silenced. The two listen. It sounds like a jiggling door knob.

Looking over their shoulders to the area they had just passed, they hold their breath waiting for whatever was coming out to spring forward. But the rattling stopped just as soon as it started.

"Maybe its Colt?"

The rattling started up again causing both males to jump in start.

"He might not be able to talk. He could have crawled over to the door when he heard our voices and rattle a knob is the only thing he can do."

It sounded right enough to Rocky. But, then why wasn't the door opening? Colt would simply turn it and fall out onto the hall floor if he's truly inside and in need of help. He wouldn't just use his last ounce of strength to rattle a knob.

"We both know what Colt's like... He would have gone to check on something like a huge snake."

"You're right." Rocky said after a resigned sigh. He could be that weak that he can't even open the door."

Their wonder was satiated by the door swining open with enough force to break a hold in the wall with the door knob. But it wasn't Colt who emerged but a rather pissed, rather animated zombie fit to kill! He's drooling blood as if he just got through with a fresh kill and was ready for dessert.

"Run!" Rocky grabbed his brother by the shoulder and took off down the opposite end of the hall.

That bulbous red headed zombie tore after them like an olympic runner, thrashing and reaching through airspace for a touch of that warm tender flesh. Scary thing... Rocky kinda felt the need to chase after Tum tum too. It was like... something in the back of his mind was telling him that he's hungry, and Tum tum would make the perfect snack to relieve those crying growls in his stomach.

It was seeing Tum tum's eyes scrunch when he dug his fingernails into his shoulder that Rocky took aggressive action and shoved his little brother into a slightly ajar door beside them, whereas he found himself sliding into a cabinet placed at the end of the hall.

The deadman went for the meal he could see directly and continued on after Rocky. Inside the cabinet, Rocky slides the door open, wishing like anything that there were a knob inside to hold onto. But the most he could do was keep his fingers tucked around the door's back to hold it closed. The darkness only made his stir worse, because he could swear he felt Tum tum's heart beating still. What the hell is going on with him? One minute he's fine the next minute he's looking at his brother like he's a large drumstick.

Rocky cried out when the dead-weight slammed into the door. Rocky sure was glad that this case wasn't glass like the ones downstairs, its sturdy and solid, and completely groaning in pain from the zombie pressing into the door with the force he is. Damn shabby craftsmenship. But Rocky held the door fast, and regardless the cramped space he squeezed himself into he was seated quite comfortably enough to keep himself safe from the reach that came in at him.

Tum tum lay on his back in the small office space panting in confusion and disbelief. Why did Rocky shove him? Was he out of his mind? Was it part of a plan he was unaware of? Whatever the reason his brother is being attacked right now, and he has to help him! Removing his knife from its stashed away location in his sneaker and sock, Tum tum hurries out of the room and into the hall. The zombie was so intent on getting at his brother that he didn't stand from his position on the floor on-all-fours, even when Tum tum crept up behind him and stabbed him in the back of the head.

He groaned horribly, blood choked up from his mouth; he turned as if to see who had hit him, before the blood rushing from his swelled head dropped him like a sack. Shoving the deadman out of the way, Tum tum grabs for the cabinet door.

"Rocky?" He tries to pull it over. "Rocky, its dead now, you can come out."

"Get away from me, Tum tum!"

"What?" Severely confused, he tries for the sliding door again. "Rocky, I told you its fine, he's dead."

"Nooo! I'm dangerous." Rocky halfway explained. "Tum tum... you smell really good."

Taken aback, the boy didn't exactly know what to say to that; but he does know that it sounded like his brother were on the verge of crying. Something is definitely wrong. Quieting, he recalled Colt telling him that Rocky was acting very strangely. This could be another one of his brother's episodes.

"Rocky, what are you saying?"

"I.. I don't know what's wrong with me. Its like I'm not thinking straight... like maybe my brain is sick." He sobbed a moment. "Tum tum, I tries to eat you."

"Whaat? When?" He asked in disbelief. Couldn't have been just now.

"When you were unconscious on the floor in that room with the plant. I'm the one who bit you."

"Rocky, but... I don't understand what's going on." He tugged at the door again, still having resistance with opening it.

"I don't either... its better that we stay away from each other." His breathing seemed to be picking up. "At least until I can figure out what's going on, or how to curb my cravings."

"Cravings?" Tum tum tugged the door again. "Rocky, we're supposed to be looking for Colt and," He grunted when tugging at the door and it pulled open a little bit on to pop back closed. "I trust you enough to know that you won't hurt me. You're the strongest guy I know Rocky... whatever's going on you can fight it."

"But what if I can't? What if I'm turning into one of those things."

"But how? You weren't here when whatever happened happened."

"I think its because of the bite from the dog."

"A bite?"

"It burns and its really itchy... its healed over but it still feels like my skin is crawling inside, and I can sometimes hear blood. Blood, Tum! ...it's safer for you if you just leave me here."

"So what? You can turn? No way." He sits back on his legs and looks at the lump of a man splayed out and bleeding all over the wooden floor and runner carpet. "... Rocky, as long as you're with me, and you don't wanna hurt me.. you can fight it. And, I may be young but if I have to back you off once or twice, I can. Trust me."

He knows that Rocky has a bit of a trust issue no matter how much he likes you and cares for you, he'd still push you aside and get things done himself.

"Please..."

It took exactly three minutes before Rocky opened the little cabinet. "Okay. I'll trust you."

Nodding, Tum tum smiled at his brother giving him a thumbs up.

"We'd better keep looking for Colt. He could be anywhere, even outside."

"I hadn't thought of that." Helping his brother out of the cabinet, Tum tum wraps his arms tightly around him for a very tight hug. "Don't scare me like that anymore, Rocky. Its bad enough Colt's missing, don't you act squirrely on me too." He smiled.

"I won't. I'm sorry."

"Forget it. Let's just find Colt, and Dad, and go home."

"I'm a hundred percent with you on that."

The two head down the hall back the way they came. With the door broken down, they may as well search beyond the frightening hall where the snake resides.

"Sam's not picking up, Dad. Do you think something could have happened to them?" Jessica closed her cellphone.

"Its hard to say. You know how your husband gets whenever someone is in trouble." Mori nods. "He's about as fired up as the boys."

"Not exactly comforting." She rubs her arms as if to wipe away the chilling feeling creeping through her.

Seeing that his daughter isn't taking comfort in his words, Mori scratches his wispy beard contemplatively. "Maybe we could fly out there, and see what's going on?"

"Its a good idea but..."

"But what?"

"If they're fine then I'll be smothering them... besides, how would we even be able to find them out in the woods. They could be anywhere."

"The door's locked." Rocky says while twisting the knob. Sighing in defeat, he looks around the door's whole, frowning at thick thick cobwebs decorating its upper corners. That's some infestation. "Wonder how Richard managed to get in?"

"It could have been open, and maybe Richard locked it to keep it inside." Tum tum turned the knob for himself. "Maybe the key is somewhere inside the house, could be hidden like the rest of them were."

"That's what I'm afraid of, I don't wanna make a mistake with one of this house's traps and have the roof cave-in on everyone." Going down the three wooden stairs that lead up to the locked door, Rocky sees that there's a zombie down the hall. Gasping, he presses himself against the wall.

He wondered if they could wait this thing out, only problem was which direction it would go. Will it to either see the both of them, or wander off into the room its standing infront of so they can ambush him. How did it not hear them anyway? He thought these things based their attacks on hearing first and feeling later, like when they run and every zombie and its mother seemed to be on it. They could see it a little better if the lighting back there weren't so sparse. When the aimless man swayed into the dim light, Rocky saw that the things ears had been caved in somehow, like someone had started to attack but withdrew. Could it have been Colt?

"Maybe we could toss our knives?" Tum tum suggested.

"Good idea." Rocky whispered back. Slowly lowering himself to the floor, he grabs his knife waiting for Tum tum to do the same.

"On my count... one... two... three."

The two jumped into view for the walker and tossed with precise aim for the head. Tum tum winged him on the neck and Rocky the throat. They would have hit the mark exactly if it weren't for the fact that the seemingly out of it zombie had decided to turn at that moment and spot the two boys illuminated in the light over the locked door.

"Shit." Rocky declared to fate and went in with a kick to the stomach. "Tum, get the knives!" He ordered his brother.

The younger male hurried over the collapsed zombie, who reached and moaned at him without success of grabbing him. Rocky stomped at the man's face in order to keep him down on the floor, but he didn't expect his foot to smash right through his head. The loud pop filled the air, along with the burping squelch of his oozing blood, and the horrific stench like his stomach's rotted scent was now coming up through his mouth.

Seeing the blood all over his sneaker and dampening his ankle through the jeans, Rocky felt his stomach turn, and unfortunately the only place he had to vomit was right there. Tum tum nearly gagged himself when seeing that the deadman was now sporting hurl right there on his lap. As if the stench of rotted stomach weren't bad enough, now there's vomit in the air. Tum tum hoped that it wasn't going to call attention to them, as he helped his brother from the floor.

"Geez Rocky, I can feel your heat through your clothes." Tum tum slapped the back of his hand to his brother's forehead. "Maybe you should lay down in that one room where we took a nap. The hall is cleared out, you should be ok while I look for Colt."

"I'm not leaving you alone... you told me to fight this thing, and I am. Let's check this room and then report to Rebecca."

"Okay."

He allowed Rocky to remove himself from his aid to head down the hall, now with help from the wooden wall. Opening the door, Rocky peeks inside.

"Do you still have that lighter?"

"Yeah." Fishing into his pocket, he hands it over.

Rocky muttered a 'thanks' to him before stepping inside. It was quiet for the most part. Rocky crept softly, silently into the room and over to a candlestick holder. Lighting three of the four candles in the holder, he looks around the room now that its lit up for them. It looked like a break-room. There's a wooden table that seats four, cluttered with all kinds of dishes, half eaten meals, the chairs are pushed out or knocked over like someone's evening got severely interrupted. Rocky could see the scenario playing out in his head. They were eating, and conversing completely unaware of what's come into the room behind them, and then a few of those walking dead would swarm in fast and start eating them.

Rocky closed his eyes as if to shut out the picture from playing in his mind. It was much too gruesome to think about, too raw to digest. _'I can't imagine Colt being lost somewhere in this house, or outside of it. The possibility of him being bit is too real, and if what I suspect is happening to me will happen to him... it could be much worse if its from a person.'_

"Rocky?"

Tum tum snapped him from his thoughts.

"We need to look around for anything useful." Rocky instructed.

The solar system greeted Tum tum when he turned his head from looking at the mess on the table, he followed the sun and the moon, a few stars over to a little wooden cabinet that housed plates and a few boxes of cereal. Searching for his brother, he spots him inspecting a dusty, termite-bitten bookshelf.

"Gimme a hand with this, I thinks its been moved a few times; there are scratches on the floor- see." He points down.

Getting at his brother's side, Tum tum helps Rocky shove the rickety old shelf aside. The moan was instant causing both males to leap a foot back, frightened and unprepared. The moaning continued; there was even a shuffling sort of scratching sound, but nothing followed. No threat to their lives from the launch of a cannible... just the terrible 'could be' brought on by the noise.

Easing his shaky battle-stance, Rocky holds out an arm to stop his brother from following him forward. Carefully, one step at a time, Rocky moves to the open entrance of the hidden space. What he saw turned his stomach, he held his core solid enough to not put his hand to his mouth in order to keep his vomit in.

"What is it?"

"Its okay... he's not going anywhere."

"What do mean?" Tum tum wasn't as held-together as Rocky could be, he turn his head and just let his stomach contents hit the floor.

This only seemed to revitalize the hungry living dead's spirit, and he reached and thrashed for dinner. He was having a hard time of it with his legs missing and his torso torn out, guts missing. Whoever did this must have been a pack, or hoard, to have pulled the man's legs off as they had.

"Should we.." Tum tum trailed off, then spoke again. "Put him out of his misery?"

And that surprised Rocky, in fact it damn neared smacked him in the face. _'Out of his misery? Of what? immense hunger? Of being a zombie?'_ He looks at the writhing, snarling half of a man. ...A man. _'Can he really still feel his humanity in there? Does he know what he's been doing- what's happening to him? Or is he simply gone?'_

Rocky rubbed his once bitten forearm. He recalled very vividly how gone he felt when he wanted to snack on his brother. He didn't feel like himself, he just felt the driving force, the need to feed.

"No. Let's leave him for now." Replied Rocky after mulling over the answer.

"O..kay." He had to shake off being the heart of the group, sometimes these decisions were just the right ones to be made. "Well, do you see anything useful then?"

That seemed to be a more productive topic. "Some sheet music aaand, looks like bullet capsules... to.. maybe a larger gun. Like a gerenade launcher."

"What's sheet music doing up here?" Tum tum asked himself.

"Not sure, but... maybe we should take it with us." Though the man can't move, Rocky manuevered past the reaching arms that were much to close to him for his liking, and in an instant he snatched the sheet music from another cabinet holding cups and pitchers.

"The bullets?" He shrugged. "We might find a big old bazooka while we hunt for Colt." He follows his brother to the door.

"Rock...y."

He looked down at his talking hip.

"Are... y-. Com..."

Removing the radio from the back waistband of his jeans, Rocky turns the dial. "Hello? Rebecca?" He called into the machine. "I can't really hear you. You're gonna have to move, the reception's bad."

"Nast-... but... mask... man in a box" came in clear. "back door-... go."

"I think she just said the back door is open." Rocky knew the device was as useless as a ice cube in a toaster. "If she got outside, Colt may have as well. We should get moving."

"Do we even know how to get outside? Besides the front door." He added upon recalling the swarm of evil mutts heavily roaming the area.

"I remember seeing a room, you know, off from the room where the art gallery is... we haven't looked back there yet, and Rebecca hadn't seen Colt pass her and we were unconscious. He could have gone looking for us and went out the door leading to the dining room."

"Wouldn't he have checked every room though? He would have seen us."

The two are now walking down the stairs to the storage room in the hall exactly over the location they're speaking of.

"Maybe he was chased out before he could really look. Those two guys were kind of a hassle, maybe we didn't really re-kill them." He shrugged. Reaching the door, Rocky turned the knob for the last time, because when the door opened it remained in its hand when the door moved.

"Looks like we gotta find a way to keep this door open."

A slamming door stopped them from their mission before it ever began.

"Rebecca?" Rocky called, but the silence that filled the air told them that they are alone. "Maybe she didn't hear me, but where did it come from."

"Sounded like down the hall." Tum tum points to the dark and unexplored corner of the hall.

Its exactly where they planned on going. Rebecca was probably just letting them know that that's where she was radioing from.

"Here." He takes the broken off door knob from his brother. "We can use this to keep the door open." Sitting the knob on the floor, the younger male gave it a few test tries to see if it would close or not, and his theory was tried and true, the broken handled door did not close shut.

"Very smart." Rocky congratulated his little brother, adding a pat on the back for good measure.

It wasn't exactly Rebecca who greeted them once they walked beyond the door and found themselves outside in what appeared to be a very thing strip of courtyard. Its was a lot like the outdoor balcony upstairs, all gray stone and weeds climbing. And much like any time they find themselves outside of the haunting mansion, they greeted with those monsterous dogs.

"Look." Kneeling, he reaches a hand out.

"Tum, be careful."

"I think its okay, look... they're dead. Not only that.." He removes his knife, shining the light from the moon against the blade. "it looks like something smashed it, not ate it. His legs are all flattened."

"Did Rebecca do this?" Rocky looks ahead to another dog's carcass.

"If she did, I wanna know her secret." Straightening up, he looks to his brother for instruction.

Following his gaze he sees a wooden door illuminated in the distance; a stone podium stands beside it. The two walk over the door, spotting blood all over the podium, as well as a strange sort of emblem stuck inside the top center of it.

"If she did, doesn't seem like she made easy work of it." Rocky says; he inspects the blood by ghosting his fingertips over it. He didn't dare touch it, it could be infected.

Moving over to the door, he gives the bar handle a good tug pulling it open. The smell of mold and dirt hit their sense right away, and dust clouded past their vision. Its a storage shed, housing all kinds of thing for gardening: shovels, rakes, hand-rakes, fertilizer, mulch and so on. A wheelbarrel looked suspiciously dirty and not with soil, but it was neither his nor Tum tum's concern at the moment.

"They sure like gardening around here." Tum tum noted the gardening supplies as well.

"Considering they're growing plants to heal people, I would think they'd have green hands rather than thumbs." Rocky said absently, looking at one direction then the other.

2 ways: a large set of wooden double doors before them, and to their left a solid metal door down a few stairs.

"Smaller door seems like the better option. Its less likely to have a larger distance to travel." Rocky decided.

Nodding, Tum tum descended the stairs almost beside his brother, pushing the door open for them once at the bottom since he wound up being the closest. They were met with cool air once again, though they had expected it since the garden wasn't exactly the dog littered walkway they'd left behind before the oversized gardening shed. Its very dark outside, as if the moon chose to stick to lighting one side of the enormous home, but even in the thick darkness Rocky can see the tell-tale sight of headstones. This is a graveyard!

Wanting to hurry out of this particular area, Rocky pushed on ahead but his trail was ceased by Tum tum grabbing him by the back of his shirt and jerking him into hiding behind one of the large corpse-markers.

Knowing better than to fly off the handle, Rocky instead looked at what of his little brother he could make out and shrugged. Tum tum pointed outward toward a large statue of a woman draped in a long flowing stone dress, but it wasn't the woman he was pointing out but the zombie standing before her. He would have seen, or at least heard them for sure if they just went whizzing by talking to each other as they had been a moment ago.

Miming that they could just sneak on by by making his index and middle finger walk on air, Rocky nods to show he understands then he follows his little brother silently through the graveyard, hiding behind heeadstone after headstone until they came to a gate of tall and slatted bars, made of iron.

The escape was better on this end... sort of. It became much darker due to the trees' thick leaves and a large rocky cliffside. There's even water flowing somewhere. Their sneakers thumped and squashed over the trail laid out ahead of them. The water smelled fresh considering its coming from this very rancid place. It made the two realize just how thirsty and hungry they truly were.

Carefully sneaking past another rogue swaying zombie, they find themselves doing a little zombie-style swaying of their own as travelers exhaustion took the place of finding their missing brother.

"Tum, wake up." Rocky shakes the younger male when his head bobbed forward causing Tum tum to smack his forehead into his back. "We can't fall asleep out here."

"But I'm tired, Rocky."

_'So am I.'_ Rocky tubs his eyes. "Think about Colt right now, he could really be in danger."

"Or he could have gone to pee, came back and figured we were all goooo..." His word broke off by a very hard yawn.

"Look, we'll take a little break." Though he can barely keep his own eyes open. "I think there's a cabin just up ahead." Taking his brother's wrist, he pulls him along with his pace.

They passed between two hideous dog statues where one faced East and the other West. And sure enough, the cabin that Rocky thought he saw appeared before them. The outside appeared to be small and comfortable; there's a light on inside. Could it be from Colt?

"Should we knock?" Tum tum asked when they got right up on the door.

"Honestly, with everything that's going on, I'm looking forward to running into someone alive."

Tum tum let a delirious smile fall over his mouth at how his brother couldn't just say 'privacy can shove it, he's going in'.

The door creaked open and flopped shut after they made their way in. He expacted another shed, but Tum tum was overwhelmbed by the sight of a large roaring fire, a few stairs leading to an upper area where the large brick fireplace resides along with some blocks of wood to build the fire back up should it dwindle away.

"A bed!" Running into a room ahead of them, Tum tum's tiny body drops down onto the bed and let's his weigh just ease into the surpringly warm mattress.

Rocky looked enviously at his brother snuggling into the pillow. "Maybe just a quick nap." Lowering himself to the floor, he lay his head on the mattress and closed his eyes, allowing the warmth of the fire in the other room to soothe the chill in his bones, and the ache from his muscles and heart.

...

Rocky awoke to the gentle shaking of his brother. "How long were we out?"

"I don't know," He's standing by a desk. "but I found this weird scribbling on a photo of a family. It says _'The Trevors'_."

"I woke up," Rocky reads when taking the picture from his brother. "and mommy was gone, where is she? I look but neder find her." He's alarmed at the sudden drop of spelling, even the handwritting suffered. "I n have tea pa-ee and find her there. But wasn't mommy, just face. I took it but want to give it back. Momy... were R yu?"

"Pretty freaky right."Tum tum takes the offered photo and sets it back down on the desk top. "I also found this." He holds up what appears to be nothing more than a crank. He wasn't sure what the younger male thought they would do with it, but he figured it might have some sort of use. This place never seems to have things just unimportantly lying around, though he'd rather not have them carrying so much stuff.

_**"If anyone can hear me,"**_ A male voice came over the walkie talkie.

It was thick and commanding. But the frequency was a bit muffled, though not as much as when Rebecca had used it.

_**"do not go into the woods... somethi-... out there. ...i..structable."**_

The radio died again.

"Rocky... if I tell you that I'm scared, you're not gonna pick on me are you?" Tum tum moved closer to the safety of his brother.

"No. But I think we definitely need to get out of h-..."

It was the sound of chains sliding lazily across the wooden floor that silenced him but, when looking out of a window made in the wall of the bedroom showing the entrance/exit of the cabin what he _saw_ ran Rocky's blood cold. Large flesh shaped tentacles whipping through the air like a roaches antenea, stuck to the back of a thing so large it could only be called a monster.

Shaking at his brother's rigid posture, Tum tum grabs the male's arm. "Rocky, what did you see?"

"Ssshhh..." Rocky listened. "its not moving right now, maybe we can find a back way out."

"Good idea. There's a sorta trap door where I found that crank, it might open."

"Where?"

Tum tum turned around walking through the slim bedroom to a doorway, leading to an even more narrow hall where at the end of it they found what appeared to be a trapped door. Pulling on it, they struggled, and groaned quietly but it wasn't budging.

Tapping Tum tum on the shoulder, Rocky gestures that he's going to break it with his elbow. But something broke him first.

"Rocky!?" He reached for his slumped brother, long enough to check his pulse. When turning to see what hit, His eyes widened in utter horror before a knock to the head made everything black.


	8. A Tiny Little House

Rocky felt cold run through his blood when his eyelids twitched. It meant he's no longer unconscious, and he's waking up.

_'This must be what fear feels like.'_ Thinks Rocky, who's keeping his eyes closed as the warmth of the cabin surrounds his aching muscles; his head is pounding too, feels like its been split open. _'I can't move a muscle... that, and I'm so scared to.'_ He tried to will his eyelids to keep from wanting to be open, but the trembling seemed more pronounced the more he tried to prevent it. _'This isn't like all those summers with grampa where we had these scary but amazing adventures... those times, they were mostly just self-doubt and nervousness. This is actual fear, and it making it hard to brea-'_

Foot steps sound around them, somewhere on ahead. That isn't the only thing, it sounds like something is being dragged along with them. Rocky could feel his gut twitch in anticipation of a blow coming, but nothing physically happened. Audibly, it sounded as if another log has been thrown into the mumbling fire.

"Hhh." Tum tum whimpered.

Eyes forced open in need to protect his little brother, Rocky isn't ready for the sight he sees. Its a monster! A _real_ and true monster! Its got long legs scarred with stretch marks, as if the height it has isn't real and a sort of growth mutation happened to it, up from there Rocky took note of a dress, though its tattered there's no mistaking the flowing purple garment for anything else. Its blood soaked, and he doubts that it's its own. Its back is exposed through the torn off fabrick caused by these horrific wriggling tentacles that groped at the air around it like a snakes tongue would to see where it is.

The monster's arms, just as abnormally scarred as her legs, are bound shackled by a metal slab locked shut like prisoners in those old world movies. Its looks heavy but it swung it effortlessly into the air and up over its head to its back. Rocky swallowed over a dry lump of fear, his dual colored gaze locked onto just a peek at the things oversized head and face; one eye is caved in and the other wide and peeping between the two boys. But the thing that alarmed Rocky the most is the creature's back. There amongst the writhing tentacles is a human face- not like conjoined twins who had an extra limb or even a head... but a cut off face of an older woman, it looked preserved like leather or if you'd pickle something and its sewn onto the monsters back with large yarn-like threading.

Tum Tume whimpered in fear again when the creature took a step toward him, its practically standing over him with that big metal slab poised over its head like its ready to strike the boy again if he tries to run. Its got fresh blood on it. Now that he noticed, the side of his head is sticky. So it was what hit them from behind, although he knew that, he just wasn't sure of how it could have hurt so much. Being ninjas they've had their share of blows from enemies, but nothing like that!

"Me!" He shouted. Grunting as he tried to sit up, he says again. "Whatever you're gonna do, do it to me instead." He has no way of knowing if the thing even understands what he's saying. The zombies don't- obviously. But this thing might. "Please, don't hurt him."

The creature looked at Rocky with the one enlarged eye it has to see with and walked over to him. Its step vibrate the wooden floor with each step it takes. The creature dropped to one knee and looked down at him. Long strands of dirty blonde hair fell close enough to touch Rocky, and his nose crinkled at the scent of raw sewage and dirt.

Fingers like terrantula legs reach out and touch the tip of Rocky's nose, then she whole-hands his face touching him as if to measure it mentally. "Maa...hhhrrrr!"

Tum tum screamed at the sound of its groan of a voice, it sounded like crow giving a rock concert in the back of someone's throat. Funny as the visual is the verbal is just terrifying. She swung around on Rocky and started back for the younger male! He scoots away to find safety, but only the railing of the long banister diving the living room from the front entrance is available. It didn't even creak from his weight pressing against it, which meant he wouldn't be saved by a miracle fall.

"No!" He kicked his leg out, landing a hit to the bend of the back of her tormented left leg.

Collapsing onto that knee; she turns back to Rocky and raises her arms over her head in plan to strike him again but the ninja rolled quickly out of the way and over to his little brother. Helping him from the floor just as quickly as he was pulling himself up. The two make a run for it only to have their path is blocked by the she-beast. How could she move like that! Just jumped into the air and land rigt before them. Its unatural! This whole scenario is. Gotta think fast!

Looking around, Rocky noticed that they're being backed into a stack of firewood that's beside the fireplace. Grabbing a log, the one recently- and poorly just tossed in so that a bare of flames piece is sticking out- he plunges it deeper into the crackling fire and thanked whomever was listening to their pleas for help that the piece of wood burned a lot quicker.

"Get back!" He shouts as he moves forward, swinging the burning log as he does so.

The monster backed away grunting and swinging its arms around to hopefully knock the wood from Rocky's grip.

"Rocky, the door!" Tum tum called when they backed the creature from their path. He even hurried on down the stairs to get away.

Rocky threw the burning log at her, snatched his brother by the wrist, and made a run for it himself. He was sure the sound of her scream would haunt him for years. He saw her hair get engulfed and light up, but he didn't see beyond that because he took off after Tum tum for the exit. He's never ran so hard in his life! He pushed his legs far beyond their limit, Tum tum had too. And any zombie coming their way they beat out of the aside by swinging the crank the younger boy still holds in his hands, there are bigger threats to worry about at the moment than a few mindless blood thirsty deadmen.

Rocky got in a few punches as well, while they tore through the cemetery. The two are so frightened that they didn't even realize that they've gone in the wrong direction once hitting the gardening shed until a courtyard stands before them. It didn't matter, they just wanted to slump over and breathe. It started off small, but their relieved laughter soon had them sitting and slumped into each other as they expelled their panic and relief through laughter... until the growls caught their attention.

Right at their side, boxing them in almost, four infected dogs growl and lick their chops with hunger. Tum tum looks to his brother, and together they kick the dogs bouncing excitedly before and stab, in the head, the dogs snarling beside them. They spin in pain and suffering while the knife is harshly dislodged and poised to get the other set, recovering from being disoriented after the kick to the face. The other dogs flail rampantly when the knives severe their throats.

"Rocky," Tum tum wiped blood from his cheek with the back of his hand. "I know its weird to say this but, I hope there's no cure for this because I'm gonna feel really horrible for killing animals and people, when they could have been saved."

Rocky could only sigh in response. He hadn't thought about that. It really would be terrible if there were a cure. Moreso if there are people alive in the underground lab- if there is one- and they're working on the cure right now.

"Where are we?" He chose to say instead. Grabbing his little brother by the scruff of his shirt, he leads them into the larger area of the courtyard. Pilar house vines and outgrown ivory, there's a small fountain sputtering water into the air. Its shaped like a bloated L, where the two walk to the foot of it. Their vision gets impaired due to the high walls and lack of light, but they don't need lighting to see that there's a drop at the end of the tunnel-like enclosing.

"Hey, we're above that one area, the one with the hall that has the shotgun in it." Tum tum cocks his head to size up the height. "Maybe we can jump it."

"Naah, we might be on to something though, we've" He turns and walks back to the main part of the courtyard. "never been to this side of the house. We could Colt this way."

Walking to a large spoked iron door, the two give it a shove. The metal groan roared through the air and into the forest on the other side of a large pool.

"Is this a pool?" Tum tum wondered. Kneeling, he reaches down toward it.

"Don't touch that water," Snapped Rocky sounding very much like their father. "you don't know what's in it."

"It seems alright... maybe a little dark, but its only because the concretes so dark." Straightening up, he followed Rocky around a small turn above the pool. "What?"

"Tum, let me see that crank." He asks.

"It got a little bent from me hitting guys with it." He confessed while handing it over.

There's a podium standing at the end of the little walkway, and inside the podium is a metal square with a square dent inside an outgrowth. It was a stretch but Rocky gave it a turn anyway. Tum tum looked on, curious to know what was going to happen- if anytthing- and to their amazement the water seemed to drain from the pool revealing a walkway made of stone leading to a ladder on the other side, there was even a ladder hidden beneath the water on the side where the boys are.

"Should we go down?" Tum tum asked looking across to the other side where there's a walkway and path fenced off from the forest. "I hope there're no dogs out there."

"Doesn't sound like it?" Rocky listened for a moment.

There's the weirdest sound coming from the other side of the pool. Like wind rusling the leaves, only there's no wind blowing.

"We can go, but be careful."

"I will."

At the ladder, carefully and one rung at a time they make their way down to the crossing. Its slippery, and the water stinks like mold but for the most part they cross without trouble. Going up the ladder, Rocky first for just incase, he waits for Tum tum before moving on. That's when the problem arose.

"Snakes!" They screamed then ran.

Long, hissing, wriggling snakes drop from the tree branches overhead just about landing on the screaming ninjas as they run at top speed to anywhere but where they're currently standing. How many could there be?! It explained the strange wind in the trees, it was just hissing snakes! As if dropping from the trees weren't enough they leapt at them; mouths open and fangs dripping with venom.

"An elevator! Tum, hurry!" Rocky waved his arm over his shoulder.

Tum tum shuddered from fear of the very sight of the albino snakes. They just about glowed in the dark! The two practically leapt onto the round elevator; Rocky's index jammed the button several times to get it to move. The machine jerked into action pulling them down to a lower level of the courtyard and thankfully away from the snakes.

"Do you think they were infected?"

"I think it wouldn't matter either way," Replied Rocky, steering his brother from the elevator with the open shaft. Its more of a lift really since it only goes up and down. "They looked venomous, did you see the size of their fangs?"

Tum tum could only throw his brother a look, knowing that he was about to hear a funfact come his way, about snakes. But he distracts his older brother by pointing across the distance. "There's a door. Maybe Colt's there."

"How big can this place be?" Rocky moves on ahead. "Wish we had a map of the grounds. There could be more locations around here where Colt could be at. It would be easier if we knew exact places to search."

Water roared in their ears as they pass through another courtyard with a large fountain, weird thing was that this one has a waterfall. Everything is so intense and lavish. The atmosphere is very still if not for the waterfall booming all around them. Better to move now before something creeps up on them.

The radio crackled to life once they've passed through the doors of a long stone tunnel.

"Hello?" Rocky calls into the device.

**"This is Brad. Can anyone hear me?"**

"Yeah, Brad, we can hear you."

**"Shoot. Well, if you can hear this than I'm sending a chopper, be ready to signal once we get in the area. Do you copy. A chopper will be sent to the forest area."**

"He must not have heard us." Figured Tum tum.

"No, but we heard him." Rocky returns the radio to his pants waistband. "We have to find Colt and Dad as fast as we can, or that chopper is gonna leave without us."

"Yeah."

Down through the walkway tunnel, they come to a mini-home. Despite his best efforts to be brave, Tum tum latched onto his brother's arm remembering what went down in the last cabin they'd found. Though this one seems more like a cottage or small house than just the single bedroom of the other place.

Cautiously, Rocky puts his hand on the doorknob, turning it.

...

"You're looking for your team?"

"That's right," Says a blond man in a S.T.A.R.S uniform. "we got separated before entering the mansion, I've been looking for Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine- have you seen either of them?"

"We ran into Jill, but that was days ago." Rocky replied.

When they entered the cabin they were greeted to the barrel of a gun aimed at them, and this man standing at the back end of it. He led them up the hall a little ways and into a room that held a bed and a few shelves and dozens, and sections of rich cobwebs. Its dusty inside, unlike the mansion, this place seemed like it hasn't been lived in for years.

"I see." The man ran a hand through his spiked blond hair. He seems very burdoned by something other than the actual topic. "Are you and your brother the only ones here?"

"No, our other brother Colt is missing somewhere- we've been looking for him. Have you seen him?"

"No. I haven't."

"Then maybe you've seen our dad? He looks like Rocky, only older." Tum tum chimed in.

"Sorry. I haven't seen anyone since getting separated from my team days ago."

Rocky sighed out his frustration. How could that be? "There's a girl around, Rebecca, she's not from your original team but she's from S.T.A.R.S... we may not know where Jill is now, but we have communication with Rebecca."

"Thanks, I'll be sure to radio her so we can meet up." He stands up straight from the lean he'd taken on the low cabinet. "I'm sorry that you haven't found your father or brother; I haven't seen this entire cabin yet, but they could be somewhere here if you're intending to look around. I'm going to see about contacting Rebecca."

"We also heard that a heliocptor is coming, we're not sure when." Rocky concludes.

"Must be Vicars. If anyone can pilot through anything its him. You go on ahead and look, I'll join you when I can."

Nodding, Rocky reaches out a hand shaking Wesker's. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He smiled at the two.

Tum tum waved then walked out after his brother. "Rocky, don't you think it was kinda weird that that guy is wearing sunglasses in doors?"

"A little, but maybe he's just got sensative eyes." Rocky shrugged it off. Walking around the corner he snaps his fingers when a light bulb went off. "I forgot to ask him if he had any clips to spare."

"We should do it now before we run into trouble."

"Yeah."

But when the two returned to the room, S.T.A.R.S captain Wesker was gone.

"Where'd he go?" Tum tum looked about the abandoned room. "There's no way he contacted Rebecca that fast and went to her."

"Maybe he left to talk?" But Rocky knew that that was a stretch seeing that there was only one door out of this room.

The large window is cracked though. But why would he go out through the window? A loud crash caught their attention. Their ninja instincts told them to run and check it out, but being in this place has their choices and decisions all screwed up and panicked. Someone could be in danger alone in here, and fear has them not running to their aid. That in itself is distressing.

"We have to go check it out."

Tum tum's hazel eyes nearly bugged from his head. Was Rocky serious? "But what about that monster? What if she's not the only one like that? We don't have any bullets left... we can't take them all out."

"I know but," He tries to insert strength into himself. "we have to help people in need." Looking at the younger boy, he says seriously. "Tum, you can stay here if it'll make you feel better, but I have to go."

He doesn't want his brother to go it alone, but after what had happened in the cabin... he can't see facing another thing like that. But then again, Colt got left alone and look what happened to him!

"I'll go with you."

Rocky was clearly relieved to hear that, and the two head out in the hall once again. The wooden floor announced their every step, and they winced and grimaced with each step in hopes that nothing was around to hear their approach.

The silence between the two was certainly filled with question as they listen to the sounds moving in all around them. Oh something is definitely moving. Its a rapping sound, like someone tapping their fingers rapidly on a table top, or in this case a wooden floor. There's a set of double door ahead of them where the sound is resinating. Its also where they heard the crash.

Carefully, and together, they each push open a door. The room has 3 levels, and upper level, a center, and a lower level. They are in the center. Stepping into the room when they see, so far, that the coast is clear the two look about. The tapping starts up again, its slower this time, and sounds very close but what's causing it isn't visible. At least until the door shut, scaring them into facing the way they just came.

The door was forced closed by the leg of a very, and they do mean lock the door and pull up the covers, very large tarantula; its foot stepped on one door closing it, then the other as it makes its way from the ceiling to the floor. Its hairy grey body made whoosing sounds like clothing moving. Its large butt thumped against the wall, and the rappid tapping sounds of its eight legs sent shivers down even Rocky's spine- and he loves bug!

"Wh- what do we do?" Tum tum found his voice to ask.

"Its just a spider, I say we attack it with whatever will squash it the best." Replied Rocky while stepping back from the enemy's charge.

Looking around the odd room, he hurries to an iron pole sitting in the corner of the room, its heavy, but he manages to lift it and carry it over to the spider.

"Tum! Get it to look at you!"

"What!?"

"I need to attack its butt!"

"Uuhh... ok-ay.. umm, look at me!" He waved his arms in the air. "Come this way you big hairy creep!"

Backing up, his back popped into an iron fence that separates the middle level from the lower level like a beautiful wall with a design of holes to see through. Only for Tum tum it was more like an annoying hindrence since it kept him from back away from the approaching doom. The arachnid reared up on its hind legs and raised its front like a pair of hands ready to strangle the life from the boy.

"Rocky, hurry!"

Rocky grunted from the weight of the pole, before thrusting it through one of its many eyeballs. Purple goo oozed its way out of the hole, and the spider behaved as though it didn't feel a thing. Trying to remove the makeshift javelin, Rocky swung it from left to right causing the monster its attached to to be moved in the same way like a marrionette on strings.

"Aaff!" He hit the floor on his shoulder when the strength of the monster flung him off with its wild flails.

Unheld, the heavy pole pulled free from the tarantula's eye and hit the floor. Panicked now that his brother doesn't have things under control, Tum tum resorted to kicking the beast's underbelly. It did little to sway its charge.

"Rocky help!" Pinned, and scared, Tum tum felt his skin crawl when the butt arched over its back and began to squirt webbing at him!

Its itchy, and oddly cold. Walking into a spiderweb doesn't even cover the tingling feeling of being completely incased in it. Tum tum waved his arms around to try at keeping it from getting on his face or anywhere else but it was futile. And it came out so rapidly, like a high powered hose would spray water.

Again, Rocky picks up the pipe but for some reason he sways, woosy for some reason. Shoving the pole over, it lands heavily against the spiders large butt smashing it with a sickening pop! Severing it completely from its upper body. Green goop seeps from this disgarded apendage, burning a hole in the floor like acid. The upper half flipped over as it felt the pain and wriggled and writhed until the legs curled into it and it died.

Rocky kneels on the floor; panting and sweaty, he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "Tum, are you ok?" He asked almost out of breath.

"Bleh, ugh!"

He's smacking at the webbing, pulling the sticky threading away while at the same time feeling as though nothing is happening at all. If it weren't for the threads tugging at his hair he wouldn't believe he was.

"Gross. Ugh, this is one time I'd listen to Mom about taking a bath."

He brushes his hands down his clothes. Seeing the distress on his brother's face, he abandons cleaning himself and hurries to his aid.

Rubbing Rocky's back, he asks. "Are you feeling the effects of the bite again? Rocky," He tilts his head to examine his face better. "are you all right? Can you talk?"

Nodding, Rocky let's out a very heavy sigh. "I don't know what that was, I just needed to rest for a moment." Getting a hand up from his brother, he nods. "Really, I'm fine."

The tapping started again, that could only mean-!

"Haa!" The two boys yell in almost harmony when the peep through wall is blocked over by the body of another spider.

At least this one was practically begging for its death, thought Rocky as he retrieves the dropped slightly melted pole.

"Tum, gimme a hand."

Grabbing the back, the two hoist the weapon up and poise it to strike.

"Right through the butt like the other one." Instructs Rocky. "Hard as you can."

And with all the force they can muster, they ram the pole through the spider's plump bottom. It squirt just as hard as the other; Rocky and Tum tum barely made it away from being burned. It thuds sickeningly to the floor on the lower level, writhing in pain and curling in on itself.

Exhuasted from exhiliration, Tum tum gives a weary smile to his brother and a thumbs up.

7 7 7

"There's nothing useful here we can use." Tum tum declared when they've been through the upper and lower portions of the room. "I wonder if this was a lounge or something?"

He looked around the room taking in the pool tables and the posters of naked women, bikers, and other things older men seem to get a kick out of. Not to mention there's a bar, but they can't make molotovs because they don't matches or the lighter- Colt does.

"I think so." He turns a bottle over in his hand. "We should look around some mo-.."

A shot rang out! It was close by! The two of them only spared one another a glance before taking off after the sound.

"It came from here!" Rocky pointed out. Grabbing the door knob, he gives it a turn. Its locked. "Shit." Rocky muttered.

"There may be key somewhere, we should look for it." He looks at the door as if he can see through it. "The shooter could need help and can't reach it because the door is locked."

"We'll have to look quickly then." Rocky says turning the corner. "Come o-.."

Tum tum gasps hard enough to suck the air from the room, a long vine has wrapped itself around his brother's throat. Its coming up from a hole in the floor boards. Quickly, he thinks of a way to remove the vine and locates some large crates just sitting in the hall. Getting behind one, he shoves it with all his strength over where the vine is coming out from. It seemed to feel the pain running over it because wriggled and let go of Rocky's throat. His brother got a little crammed between the wall and the crate but he didn't mind it since the horrible assalt was over.

Pulling himself free, receiving a few splinters from the wall, he removed himself from the wedge. "There's no way that plant could have stretched this far," He pants out while rubbing his bruised neck. "Could it?"

Tum tum shook his head, unsure.

"We should watch out for holes either way. I think it can feel us walking around on the floor." He straightens from the floor. "Let's be more careful. We need to help out, but we also have to find Colt and Dad."

"Right."

"It sounds empty beyond those big spiders... and I don't think they're as infected as the humans are." Holding his brother by the shoulder, he leads them to a door past the covered plant- they actually had to climb the crate to get around the holes! But they do this without obsticle and move into a long dark hall.

Passing a door that's locked, they move to a door that reads 008 over it. Giving the knob a twist, Rocky doesn't push it open when he hears someone talking.

"Rocky." Tum tum says off at his side.

Slowly releasing the knob, he walks over to his brother. "What?" He whispers so that whomever is in the room doesn't flee like Wesker did; he's hoping Tum tum will take his lead and do the same.

"It's a map, says its of a 'guard house', this looks like where we are." Whispering his words since Rocky seemed to whisper for some reason.

He shows his brother the map; he turns his head when Rocky takes it from him, a buzzing sound caught his attention. Leaning over to look through a hole that the map had been covering, Tum tum stops when Rocky begins to speak.

"This can really help us," He smiles. "This place isn't too big, and look. Someone marked on here that there's a key hidden in this room." He points. "We have to get it, it might unlock some of the doors in the mansion, but its through a door that's locked right now. Looks like we have to find two keys."

Rocky walks over to the unlocked door, and gave the knob a turn. He expected to see someone inside but the room is empty. Where could they have gone?

Tum tum cracked open a door directly beside them finding it to be a bathroom. "Good, cause I really gotta go."

"Be careful." Rocky says while going further into the room. _'So that's where they disappeared to. Did Wesker come this way?'_

He shivered feeling a cold wind blow up from an opening in the floor, a metal ladder is leading down into it. It must hold secrets, otherwise it wouldn't have been behind a bookshelf. But what could be down in that darkness?

...

Author Note: Its such a short chapter but my brain got fried- I'm sorry! Next time I'll stop drifting and keep my head in the game. Or literally play the game for inspiration.


	9. Tea Stands for Terror

Rocky climbed down the ladder first. When reaching the bottom, he stood beneath it and held his arms out to support his brother should he slip off.

"You don't think Colt could be down here?" Tum tum asks; looking around and seeing nothing but concrete from corner to corner, he shakes his head. "Maybe we should go back up, Colt-.."

Cutting him off, his older says very authoritively. "Could be anywhere. We're looking." Grabbing him by the upper arm, he walks two steps away from the ladder to peer around a corner.

A longer hall is all he sees until a closer looked revealed something brown just off from eyesight.

"Tum, you can stay in the bedroom or you can come with me... your choice."

Tum tum didn't have to think it over, he does NOT want to be left alone in this place. "I'll stay with you."

Smiling, he nods his approval of his brother's choice. Resting an assuring hand on the younger male's back, Rocky leads them down the long hall. The atmosphere is dank, but bright, so it isn't doom and gloomy like the rest of the tiny, cobweb covered home. But then, if this tunnel is often used its really not a wonder that its lined with bare-bulbs hanging on a long rope-like wire.

"Why does it stink like sea water?" Tum tum's nose wrinkles up when a particularly fragrant whaft blew up his nose from their passing by a metal door. "Wonder what's in here?" Grabbing the knob, he gives it a strong tug but it doesn't budge. "Locked."

"It figures." Sighed Rocky. Eyeing the entrance to who-knows-where Rocky with a curious gaze, he kneels to check the lock. "Its locked from the other side." Straightening up, he then turns his attention down the hall. "What's that?"

Leading the way, Rocky carefully inches across the wall until he's close enough to peek around the corner unseen. Relief washed over him when noticing that it wasn't some passed out zombie waiting to strike when they walked by, its simply a crate- a trio of crates to be exact.

"Why are these here?" Tum tum touches them. Looking down he reads the sides. "B.O.W. Hmm." Spotting his brother, he asks.

"I don't know, maybe this is an old storage."

Rocky's attention isn't on the crates any more, its on the seven foot long gaping hole in the middle of the hall filled with murky stanky water. Its moldy and green even!

"Can we jump it?" Leaning over his brother, Tum tum sizes up the distance.

"No. Its too far, and who knows what type of chemicals this water has floating in it." Straightening up, Rocky sighs. "We'll have to turn around."

"Rocky... do you think these'll float?"

The younger boy is standing behind the crates, peering over at his brother.

"...Maybe." Looking the crate over, Rocky touches the one nearest him. "It just might, it feels empty." Grinning at his little brother's brilliance, he cheers him. "Tum tum, it might work!"

Pleased with the praise, he tips himself to get a good pushing footing. Rocky watched the large wooden boxes thump together, and he has to shake his head in dismay.

"Tum, we have to move the one closest in first." He shrugged at how obvious it was.

"Right." Embarrassed, he strains and grunts in attempt to pull the crate back away from the others.

"Watch out." Rocky says.

Giving his little brother a hand from the other side, he shoves the crate down enough so he can fit into the space between the two.

"Okay, now come help me push this one in."

Tum tum joined his brother between the crate and helped giving it a good few shoves until it submerged into the water. The two smile with joy that their makeshift bridge is successful, and quickly work together to shove the other boxes in. It shoved into the originally plunged crate then washed over to the edging in back.

"One more." Rocky says.

"Rocky... we know Colt's not here, right?" Tum tum says when the final crate is in place. "I mean, if he'd come through here then these would already be in place."

"I know." He sighs. "But someone locked that door on the other side, and we need to find out if it was because it was locked before any of this happened, or if Dad came through here- possibly Colt- and locked it to protect theirself."

Stepping one foot down onto the crate he test its strength. It held fast. The cramp of the tight space held them tightly inplace, and the depth of the water kept them afloat. Though slowly, the makeshift bridge is crossed with cautious ease by both boys, one after the other.

They have more hall to go through but the length is much shorter than the original path. The two skid to a stop when seeing waist deep water up ahead.

"So much for avoiding the water." Comments the younger male.

"I'll test it out." Rocky moves forward and dips the tip of his Nike into the shallowest part of the water. "It didn't melt my sneaker." He says upon inspection. "May as well just give it a shot." Kneeling, he hesitates his finger tips over the water.

"Rocky," Tum tum warned.

"I think its ok." He dips his index finger in, pulling it back when the water reached as high as his knuckle. Submerging the rest of his hand, he sighs with relief when there isn't even a slight burning. "Its just water. A pipe must have broken down here."

"I hope this place doesn't flood if we open the doors."

Walking through the water after his brother, he's a little worried when the height surpasses his older brother's due to his shorter size. It's up to his neck for Pete's sake! Metal double doors stand in there way; they look like a serious force to be dealt with. Watching Rocky hold the bar, he takes a grip himself. He's careful to raise his chin when they lean their shoulders against it as well.

"Just hang in there and help me push," Rocky instucts. "there's a lot of water pressure against it."

Switching sides, he sloshed through the water. "We should push the same door, it'll be easier."

"Yeah."

Giving it a great shove, they try again and again, putting as much force behind it as they can. Its not hard to get a footing on the concrete beneath their feet, but its hard on their shoulder's which are giving it everything they've got. There's a hard groan and before the knew it the water was rushing in at a rapid pace!

Rocky grabbed his younger brother under the arms, elevating him above the rushing water while he took the full force of it on the body, though his face is shielded by Tum tum's body.

"Aaahh! Who's there!?" A voice called out beyond the opened door.

Setting his brother down now that the water has leveled off, Rocky and Tum tum rush in to help.

"Richard!" Rocky calls out. "What are you doing here?!" He calls over rushing water.

The room is split leveled, and filled up with water! The entire lower-level is flooded, leaving still a huge amount of water spiraling angrily around their calfs. The entire room is made of metal, they're standing on a metal catwalk framing the upper half of the cylindrical room. And across the room from the two is Richard; he's bandaged and no longer bleeding, but that doesn't mean he's no longer in pain, his body is straining to remain held up and pressed against the bar-lined glass tank?

"Kids! You didn't understand, I wasn't calling you in here!" Richard called out.

Ignoring him, Rocky walks to the edge, reaching out a hand, he calls to him. "Richard, reach for me! I'll pull you over!"

"Get out of here!" He shouts and not just to be heard over the roaring water.

"Why?"

Tum tum saw why, and wide eyed and fearful, he's got a grip on the back of his brother's shirt. "Ro.. Rocky!?"

"Not now Tum, we have to help him." Reaching again, he shouts. "Give me your hand!"

"But Rocky!"

"Watch out!" Richard shouts.

Rocky turned his head then. And he was not prepared for what it is that he sees. Richard leaped across the distance shoving the kids forward and out of the way of the oncoming threat. But that left the S.T.A.R.S member in the path of the great white monster.

A very real Jaws swam up like its own living tidal wave, slapping and swishing the waves about the room as if it controlled them itself. To make matters worse, there are two littler sharks following closely behind.

Tum tum's screams are muffled by Rocky shoving his brother's face into his stomach to shield him from the horror of Richard's death. The poor guy, he never stood a chance; his garbled screams silence not long after the ravenous great white tears into his back, shredding it into pieces so fine the man snapped in two. His legs are still in the beast's mouth, but his upper body floats on top of the water.

"Tum, we have to run." Rocky declares.

The panic in just the way his name was said told Tum tum how urgent the situation just became, and with tugging help from his brother, he's pulled along to the a large door a good many feet ahead of them. The sharks had the advantage, and quickly tailed the two who were considerably slowed by the splashing water.

Rocky couldn't help but to recall a similar situation, that's happened just last year, when he and Colt were down in the sewers and had to run from a fireball. He'd tripped then, but he won't make that mistake this time. Speeding up his pace, he holds tightly to his brother's arm and bounds through the door that came into view. It took a lot of force, but he closed the door swiftly after they'd entered. Sighing with relief, he shrank to his wobbling knees. Even with all they've been through, he can't seem to shake the panic. Each thing seemed worse than the last.

"I guess we know what that sea water smell was." Tum tum kneels down beside his brother. "Did you see that broken tank behind Richard, it was huge!"

Nodding, Rocky swallows to catch his nerves and keep them calm. He did notice the giant fish tank, but he keeps pet sharks? Moreso, how did they get them to be that big?! This lab must have been experimenting on them too, just like everything else. But their own workers, really? How can any of this be real? Not to mention, what the hell does this lab plan to do with these things? Were the diet pills that turn you into zombies an accident, or intentional? Are these sharks just lab monkeys? Their medicinal plants are amazing! So why these other things? Trial and error? Are they planning on keeping it all a secret; abandon the lab and no one will know? Nothing will get out? Well things are getting out, if those dogs are any indication.

_'Colt, I don't know where you are... but please be safe.'_ Rocky prays.

8 8 8

"Mmm." Colt moaned softly.

His eyes begin to twitch as his senses wake up. Before his eyes ever opened he noticed a ripe smell, old and dead... Where is it coming from? Rolling over, he felt his every muscle scream. He whimpered in pain, but pushed his body anyway to roll over onto his stomach. It was that simple act that smashed his face down into something soft enough to push down.

_'Why can't I feel it?'_ He wonders through his cloudy mind.

He's about to sit up when he hears heavy foot steps in the distance. Too heavy to be either of his brothers, not likely his father's. Even then, they're too heavy for his steps as well.

_'Why is my face wet?'_ He wonders. Touching his face very slowly, so that whomever is approaching doesn't notice his movements. _'There's something on my face! But what?'_

He's physically startled when a loud metal groan sounds through the room. Its more quiet than it should be, though.

_'Does that mean I'm underground?'_ He wonders.

Colt remembers all the sounds that went on when they were on Snyder's ship, they were loud and obnoxious. He's not on a ship, though he can hear water rushing somewhere... or dripping. It's this sort of wet movement.

"Y..OO Waaahk?" A hoarse voice says over where Colt assumed the door is. "Maa eerrr? YOO Waak?"

"Hhha!"

Colt leapt out of his skin, thumping his back against a- unknown to him- near wall, he scoots to the farthest reach on what he's discovered is a large dirty bed. Breathing heavy, Colt looks frantically around the room for something- anything!- that can battle the large creature. Finding nothing on hand, he puts up his fist in the basic battle stance. Fist balled hands with one arm set forward to guard his chest to defend, and the other back to attack; he waits for the coming blow. But the unexpected happens.

The large thing that bashed him over the head and dragged him down into wherever this is, clapped its long fingered hands together- with some difficulty due to an old-style shackle keeping the wrist bound. It then reached for him, stroking his cheek tenderly; Colt felt whatever sticky thing was on his face being pressed in against him, but the initial stroking was sort of muffled by the obstruction.

"Haa Hood." It garbled at him before moving over to a small table.

Colt blinked in confusion. Whatever is on his face bent and ruined his eyelashes, each blink has them dipping into his vision blurring it more than his headache already was.

"Maaher Come!"

It slammed the rusty metal brace down onto the metal floor, and in movement far faster than it should have it crosses the room in a way that ressembles a large ape's gallop.

"Oh shi-.." He panicked.

And with good reason as the creatures hands hit the floor to support its rising lanky legs, that in a single sweep slap Colt right across the back sending him sprawling out across the bed. It should have hurt a lot more than that, but he sensed that the creature went easy on him, for some reason.

Getting the hint, he raises his hands in defensive surrender. "Okay, okay... I come." He mimics its speech in order to maybe communicate with it properly. "I come." He moves over to the table, and takes a seat on one of the filthy pink cushions resting on an iron chair.

That seemed to satisfy the monster, and she joined him for tea. Lifting the rusty kettle, she tips it over his cup. Murky muddy water splashes all over the place due to the size of the cup and the distance its being poured. Colt hoped like hell she doesn't want him to honestly drink it. He just doesn't think he can do it, not for all the fear in the world. It even has a thick worm squiggling around in it. Although, it seems kinda thin for a worm. Is it a snake?

He looks closer, his longish hair dipped forward.

"I DO."

Startled by it speaking to him, he wonders what its on about, and finds out soon when his head is grabbed after she produces a brush from a drawer on a busted dresser. She must live down here, its completely a tiny little girl's room. Pink this, fluffy that, no matter how busted or dirty it may be, its still the makings of a young girl's bedroom. The weight of the brace rests heavily on the back of his head, dipping it forward for him. The bristles of the brush dig in clean to his scalp. He can feel each run through over his head.

He complained gently when the sharp edge of the wrist brace poked him in the back of his upper shoulder when the girl grabbed his hair into a small ponytail.

"YOO BE-OOO!" A mirror is lifted to him.

Colt's eyes go wide when he sees not his own reflection, but a woman's! Touching his face caused the stick substance to move out from the nose holes, empty eye sockets before his own, and the empty mouth. Its like a Halloween mask gone rogue, because this is real skin, a real face... and its been sewn into his skin!

Colt sucked in a breath, and he screamed! Trying to calm him, but with no success, the large creature chose to put him back to sleep. Raising his brace, she locks her hands into a fist and smashing them down into the center of his back. Lights out.

5 5 5

"Why does it look like we're in a submarine?" Tum tum asked when he'd finally recovered from their breather on the door.

"Don't know, but there's a ladder over here." Crawling over to a hole in the floor, he looks down below. "I'm gonna drop a gun down to check and see if anyone's down there."

"Do you think anyone could have made it past the sharks?"

"No. But these things are practically immortal now that they're living again, so anything is possible." Removing his gun from the back waistband of his jeans, he drops it down into the hole.

The sound was loud enough to resonate around the room, but it didn't sound too spacious down below.

"I think we're good." He positions himself to go down the ladder, pausing when his brother grabbed him by the shoulder. "What?"

"Rocky," He releases him now that he has his attention. "You don't think this is that lab Jill was talking about? We can't leave without Colt or Dad."

"I know. If this is the the main lab, then we're gonna secure the area, if we can... And then we'll go back and look for them."

"Okay."

Climbing down the ladder, Tum tum not four rungs behind, Rocky gets to ground floor first. Looking around, he sees a door not far ahead of them, and an entry way directly left. Walking in, Rocky sees nothing but tons of machines and levers. He's unsure of what they do, but he can guess it for monitoring the sharks. He can even see them swimming around through three large windows.

"There's a lot of water blocking the door. We can get through it we can drain it." Tum tum says.

"That could be what these machines are for." Rocky looks them over. "See if you can find an owner's manual or something."

"Right." They scan the desk top for any paper giving instructions on opperating the machine.

"Here's a map of this place."

"Not very big," Rocky looks it over. "I think maybe we.."

A loud crash silenced the 2, and they look frantically around for the source of the sound. Its the sharks! They see them! They're swimming th circle to gather speed and they're slamming themselves into the glass.

"Its ok... they won't be able to break it."

But Rocky spoke too soon. The glass just got a huge crack in it...

Rocky's heart began to pound like a jackhamer. They'll drown if those windows break! Looking around, he sees that the windows have large shutters rolled up over them. "Tum, we have to close the shutters!" Moving over to the machines, he spots a large bar-handle lever. "Could be." Giving it a pull he waits to see what happens.

The shutters start rolling down, but stop.

**"Unidentified pressure source detected."**

"Pressure?" He responds to the machine. "Where?"

**"Safety system engaged, now locking door."**

"Don't!" Turning around, he looks for something that'll release the pressure.

**"Critical pressure 10%."**

He pulls one lever behind him, but the windows don't close. Turning, he pulls the lever behind him. The begin to roll down a bit, but stop half way.

"Aaah!" The two rock back and forth when the body slam was strong enough to shake the entire room.

**"Please add additional oil to pressure to stabilize use."**

"Where's the oil valve?"

"Rocky, back here!"

He fell on his way back when the great white slammed into the glass again. It isn't leaking, but the crack has gotten larger.

"But there're three. Which one supplies it?" He wonders.

"You go in the room and look, I'll turn 'em."

"Okay." Returning to the back room, he stands and waits.

"This is number three."

Rocky waits. "Nothing."

"This is... number one!"

The alarm is going off, and the pressure is growing. Its reached 70%. They don't wanna think about what's going to happen at 100%. The first valve tugged the shutters up back into their post, and Rocky knew that had to mean something. Pressing both levers again, the first one on the right of him, then the one on the right the shutters slide closed.

Both heaved a sigh of relief, hugging out their anxieties.

A sound all to familiar with childhood soon filled the room then after. The sound of water going down a drain like it would when you've been pulled from the tub, and the water is being drained. A beep sounds off the right of the main room. The door is unlocked.

5 5 5

"Uuuhh," Colt groaned.

Raising his head slowly from the table, he looks blearily around the room. The monster is still there with him, but she's not moving. She's laying on the bed, from what it sounds, fast asleep.

_'Now's my chance to get out of here.'_ Slowly, he gets up from the table.

As quietly as possible, he walks through the tiny room; limbs shaky from the hit over the head, he's wabbling back and forth. But he has the close space walls to hold him up as he makes his way to anywhere but there. It felt like he'd been running forever, he's just plain out of breath as he moves.

He yelps when something brushes his hand. He can't see through the dark waist high water, but if the present in his cup of mud was anything to go by, he just brushed his hand into a snake. By, he moves even faster down the dark tunnel. He can feel the ripples coming at him at top speed, the snakes are chasing him!

"Come on, come on." He coached his shaking thick legs to move better.

The hissing bounced off the walls in the worst way, it threatened his panicked nerves that the snakes were closer than he liked to think, and he nearly smacked his face into a ladder when he'd glanced over his shoulder as he ran.

"Thank you, thank you." He praised his guardian as he climbed his way to where he hoped was a safe haven.


	10. My Emotions Are Spinning

_'Where am I?' _Colt wondered the moment he stepped out of the hole above the ladder he'd just climbed. _'Am I still in the mansion?'_

Its clear that he's not in the mansion the moment he hears nature outside chirping away with its back legs. Crickets. Its dark out; and it would seem that he's in a cabin of sorts. Panic never left him as he stalked through the cabin, his fears became even greater seeing a lit fire. Did the monster light the fire? Is she familiar with this place too? Of course she is. If she found him in the mansion, and her bedroom leads up to this cabin, than she must be familiar with the whole area.

So shaken by being in that large monster's clutches, Colt let his fear of the flesh eaters hit the back-burner as he sprints through the darkness to anywhere but there. He'll own up to these tears in his eyes, because who wouldn't be so rattled that they didn't. So far he's been stalked, knocked out, dragged, and oh yeah, a woman's face has been sewn over his own! Yeah, he'd say that warrents some tears.

As hard as he's running, slippery rocks threaten him twice, before he's back on solid soil. He staggered to a hault by a large siding of rock, and just let himself shrink in. Covering his ears from the horrible moaning coming from the thick forest, he waited out the episode to calm himself rather than break into a full panic attack.

Sniffling, he grabs at the side of his face with both hands. "Come off, come off." He urged it. But wouldn't budge.

The smell of his dripping blood is in the cool breeze, and its attracting attention like an idol in public without a bodyguard. Steadily composing himself, he places a hand onto the wet rock and stands. One good breath in then out, Colt tears off for the end of the path.

Hopefully it'll go back to the mansion where his brothers will be looking for him. They must be scared stupid wondering if he's disappeared like Dad, or worse. And what about them?! Their looking for him could have gotten them into danger as well. They never should have separated. With or without the right number, 4 strands have to stick together.

9 9 9

"Wait." Rocky grabs his little brother's arm, stopping him in his tracks.

They went through the door that was once a room filled with water, but now that its drained they have to know where it goes. Those other sharks could still be back the other way... waiting for them.

Rocky had to shake the image of Richard from his mind, there was so much blood... But, the current danger is a very VERY large shark laid out before them. The thing must be the length of a hummer, and just as wide!

"Do you think its dead? There's not much water in here."

Rocky wondered that same thing himself. The room, though drained of the water that had filled it just minutes ago, had a sort of pool of water on half of the room only because there are six stairs going down to create a second level within the space. It wouldn't be such a problem if it weren't for the fact that the shark is currently half submerged in that area.

"Well... you once said that you wanted the ninja name Monster Destroyer. I think that's the mother of all monsters, so go get it."

"I think I'll stay as Tum tum." He gives a dry laugh.

Smiling, Rocky steadies himself. "I'll go first."

Slowly, step by step Rocky inches past the great beast. Relieved when he's past it, and is now standing close to four stairs leading to a little surge box.

"Tum tum, come on." He points. "There's a key over here. I wonder what it goes to?" He asks himself.

"Aahh!" Tum tum shrieked when on his way by the shark flipped and flopped in the water.

Staggering into his brother they both hit the floor. The Great White continued pounding itself up and down into the floor, until slowly its writhes of life, fade away and it lies still.

Rocky shoved his brother off of him, and stands up. "That was close." He reaches down to help Tum tum up, and that's when his eye caught something odd on the floor. "Is that a gun?"

Looking off to his left, Tum tum turns over to crawl and reach beneath a long outcropping. "It is!" Pulling it out, he shows it to his brother.

"This gun looks familiar doesn't it?" He asks with sadness in his tone. "It was Richard's. ...He must have dropped it."

Looking around the darkness, he asks. "What is this room?"

"It looks like a generator room. Must be what that humming is about, and why it was so noisy in here when the water started draining. Holding it out to him, he says. "You said you wanted a shot gun."

"But its so big.." Tum tum touches the cool metal weapon. "I think I might go flying if I shoot this thing."

"Just hope you don't have a reason to shoot it." Walking up the stairs to a small upper area, he grabs the key from a hanging hook, giving it a look over. It definitely unlocked a door from down here. "Let's go-!"

The shark seemed to have been playing possom as it sprang to life and smashed right into the podium where the two boys are standing. Catching himself on a railing as quickly as he could, Rocky yelped when he realized the key flew out of his hand and plunged into the pool of water keeping the sharks gills going. Tum tum tripped forward, grabbing a hold of his brother's back to steady himself.

"Tum, I dropped the key!" He called over the sharks noisy rampaging.

"Want me to shoot it?!"

"No! There has to be another way!" Keeping himself steady from the shaking, he looks around for something to help them stop the shark. "The power box! Tum, help me push it!"

Looking to his right at a big green box, he grabs a hold of it and digging his feet against the floor, he helps Rocky shove the box into the water. They wait for the explosion, but nothing happened.

"Where's the breaker!?" Looking this way and that, he spots a level beside the power levels switchboard. Stumbling a bit, he gets up to pull it and give it a hand jerk once the stick is in his hand.

If anyone ever wondered if a shark makes noise, it does. And the Great White howled in pain as it thrashed around in the electrical current shocking it with a voltage so strong it shut down the entire system before turning off.

"I think its ok." Rocky says when he starts moving from the platform to get into the water, and his little brother grabs him by the shoulder to stop him.

But he's still cautious and lower the tip of his sneaker into the water. He isn't shocked, so he knows it'll be ok to get in. He felt nauseous when seeing that the wet part of his clothes was turning pink from the blood that drained from the sharks mouth upon its death. The smell of charred seafood would keep him off the titanic edibles for a good long while.

Wadding around, he's glad his feet can touch the floor with being too submerged. "Tum, can you see the key from up there? Its too dark down here."

"Ummm." Looking, his chin in the air, neck strained, he points. "There! Five paces ahead and two right. It'll be right beside your foot then."

Swishing through the thickness, he moves in the direction his brother mapped out, and held his breath while dipping under to get the key. Popping out, he runs his hands through his hair to remove it and the running water from his face. He doesn't wanna be surprised while he can't see.

"Can we get out of here now?" Tum tum asks, climbing down and holding out a hand to help pull his brother from the water when he couldn't find the stairs which he'd taken to get down into the pooled water.

"Yeah."

Passing through the room to the exit and out of the lower area of the draining room, Rocky opens the large metal door slowly. The water has been drained.

"Move carefully, the water's been drained. So we should be good if the sharks on a lower level."

"Got it." He gives Rocky a thumbs up.

Leaving the safety of the room, Rocky had to catch his breath and hold the contents of his stomach in. Tum could no longer look at all, and pressed his foreheard into his brother's back to hide his eyes from accidently seeing more of the gruesome scene before them.

Richard's upper half is latched onto the railing with a vice grip, and his lower half... his hips are hanging from the "beached" larger sharks mouth. It couldn't finish him off before dying in suffication when the water drained leaving them all up on the long walkway, and unlike the other shark, out of the water.

"Tum, don't... don't cry right now, okay? We can restock the Niagra when we get home." Though it seems that he'd like to cry himself. But he knew it would get them nowhere. "Just stay behind me and don't look."

He didn't dare to look to long himself, the deceased's eyes are still open, anguish is expressed on his face. Keeping his gaze forward for the door, the two make their way back to the exit. But another door caught his eye; he hadn't seen it due to their running for their lives. Crossing to the otherside of the catwalk, he peeks into the room.

It looks like the dump-off for old scrap metal, crates, and ammo.

"Look! Bullet cases!" Rushing in, Rocky grabs a clip and hurriedly fills his gun.

There's even shotgun shells.

"Tum, check the gun and stuff your pockets with as many bullets as you can carry." He's already doing so. "Tum..." Looking over his shoulder at his little brother who's planted. "Tum, come get some bullets. Hurry, we gotta get out of here and find Colt."

He shakes his head, then drops to the floor. Rocky rushes over to him, pulling him into him, making hushing sounds to calm his spiraling nerves.

"What's wrong?"

"I've seen too much now, Rocky. I can't go on anymore." He cries. "It's not like knocking people unconcious until the police come. Richard is dead! He's not gonna get up and be fine like those guys who were knocked out!" Shaking his head, he shouts in anger. "He's dead, Rocky! He's dead!"

"Tum, calm down, you're gonna have a panic attack!" He yells over the kid's emotional deafening.

"We're gonna end up just like him." He sobs out.

"No we're not!" Moving his brother back from leaning on him, he holds his face between his hands. "Tum, listen to me... we can't let Richard's death be for nothing. He saved us, and we're not gonna repay him by flipping out and getting ourselves killed." Shaking the shaken younger male, he adds. "Tum, it wouldn't be fair to him, and it wouldn't be fair to Colt either. Wherever he is, he's depending on us to find him... we can't lose our heads yet."

Sniffling, Tum tum nods. "Rocky, I'm really hungry."

Chuckling, Rocky nods. "I will personally fix you something to eat once we get back in the house. Hopefully they won't smell our food and come looking for us."

Composing himself, he stands and wipes an arm across his runny nose and eyes. "Sorry."

"Its ok. We just need to keep it together and find Colt." Looking at the key in his hand, he reads the inscription on the back. "Gallery?"

"We passed that on the way in, didn't we? Before we came down into the tunnels?"

"Yeah. Guess we gotta backtrack."

"I'm all for that," He's in the middle of stuffing his pockets, then he lifts an olive green case of shells for the shotgun. "being down here is giving me that creeps. How come we haven't seen any zombie's?"

"Maybe they were taken by the sharks. I don't know... could be that they migrated up into the cabin."

"I know its a breather." Holding out his bare hand, he says. "I've been shaking since we got here and you told us about what happened in the dining room."

Rocky didn't wanna say "me too" so he just takes his brother's free hand and walks to a ladder. It was either the ladder or the door. But which one would take them someplace safe? "Let's go ladder."

Allowing his brother to climb up after him, since they know the beaten path is currently safe and there's no telling what stood above them. Rocky is happy to see that its just a small stretch before a single door.

Rocky turned the lock over after trying the knob, opening the door he pushes it open quickly as his little brother approaches him. "We're back in the tunnel."

"What tunnel?" He asks before seeing for himself. "We're back! That's lucky, huh?"

"Yeah."

The bright lights were a massive welcome, since they've been in near darkness since leaving the catwalk where Richard once stood. Tum tum didn't need to be told once, as he tore through the stone passage way with his brother following close behind.

...

"Colt?" Rocky whispered when opening the door. "Are you in here?"

"Something's making noise."

They listen.

"Sounds like bees or something." Tum tum wonders.

"No... its more like a wasp. Bees sound softer but more active. Wasps don't have queens and things to tend to.. so their more lax and... I'm doing it again."

"Yeah. But, that's okay." He pats his brother on the arm. "At least you're able to spot it this time."

In suspended animation, they wonder what to do about the wasps. Where are they? Will they attack them? More importantly, are they infected?

"What should we do, Rocky?"

"If we tred quietly, we should be ok." Stepping into the room, he moves off to his left where a table is located.

"What is all this stuff?"

"I don't know." His eyes skim the words. "Looks like they're working on more botany stuff for medicinal plants and things."

"Too bad their experiment went wrong."

"I feel fine though, and I injested some... I think maybe the other products came out bad; I wish we could get our hands on a phone, I have to ask Emily if she's ok."

"Yeah. Its some scary stuff to find out," He puts a sheet of paper back onto the table. "she'd only just started taking those diet pills, and she might turn into one of those things from being poisoned."

Dropping his paper back on the table, Rocky looks around the room. Aside from this long table filled with beakers, and papers, plus a couple VERY large dead wasps. Picking up the carcas, Rocky examines it. Yup. A stinger.

Along the wall behind the table is a another collection of beakers, burners, and sinks. By the entrance, a few feet forward, is another room. Rocky doesn't need to try the door because even in the distance he can see its locked with a special key panel to get it open. To the right, it looks as if the room is shaped like a lowercase H of sorts, because there's a single door right before a left turn down a short hall that ends on another turn off, and beside that door is a set of double doors several feet back.

"Rocky!"

"Huh?"

"You were spacing out again."

"Sorry. Let's check the door then see about..."

He stops walking when spotting someone from the side of his eye, when he reached the single door.

"Tum, don't look." Rocky warned.

Knowing his little brother is still coming down from what happened to Richard, he can't let him see another dead body of someone who still looks perfectly human. But there's something in the man's hands.

"Tum, check the double doors, this one is locked."

"Okay." Doing as he's told because he can guess that Rocky is going over to whatever or whomever is down the little hall, and he wants to keep him from seeing it.

Rocky crept up on the corpse, crawling over to him by the time he'd began kneeling down to check the man. He's dead, but he's human. It doesn't look like he'll turn into one of those things. He's just severely stung, like the kind you'd see in horror movies. His whole body is pocked with welts and scabs from where the wasps must have dug into him. His terror seemed to have come on by the insecticide in his clutches. He must have been spraying and just got jumped in the retaliation.

Lifting the bug sprayer from the man's hands, Rocky turns to leave and is staggered from fright back to the floor. _'Look at the size of that thing!'_

There's a wasps nest in the corner of the room over a large white sink. He's never seen one so big, it must be 8 feet long and 6 feet around. His eyes move to where one is crawling through a hole in the wall, just a ways behind it in the wooden wall. Slowly, Rocky stands up to approach the nest. He isn't two steps close when a couple of its inhabitants come out to investigate the vibrations of his foot steps across the floor.

His breath is held in wonder of what they'll do to him, and it isn't long before the large insects spot the intruder and move in for what must be round 2 of protect the hive.

"Tum, run!" Rocky bolts for the door.

Having been jiggling, and tugging on the knobs of the double doors, until he'd heard some movement going on that side. Pressing his ear to the door, he listens only to have his brother block out the sound shouting for him to book-it. He didn't have to be told twice in a place like this, and he followed quickly maybe faster than his brother to the door.

Once on the other side, its closed and they both feel sick when hearing the wasps bumping into it with an almost stampede sounding spray of thuds. Remembering the hole, Rocky hurries down the length of the hallway past the door that led them into that concrete tunnel to where there's a hole broken into the wall, and with speed on his side he sprays the insect killed into the hole getting it all over the wasps that have returned to the hive after a satisfying scare.

But its their turn to feel the fear now, and the spray is industrial strength before it was raining wasps corpses if the thumping on the floor was any indication. A couple were tough enough to get out of the hole, but Tum tum backed his brother up expertly slicing and slashing into the enlarged stinging pests.

"Thanks Tum." Getting up from the floor, he listens in for any sign of life. Silence greets his ears. "I think they're dead."

"Good. Now I can show you something that I heard in the other room."

Tum tum fanned at the air as they walked into the room. "That stuffs potent!" He declared pinching his nose. "Its this door." He says in a weird voice since his nose is pinched.

Rocky pressed his ear to the door. Then gives the handles a tugging. "Well its locked anyway." Recalling a key in the sink, he makes his way around the corner to retrieve it from the sink.

Tum tum scrunches his nose up listening to the popping sounds of the bugs being walked on.

"I don't know where this goes but we can try it in the mansion." Rocky says when he's back in his brother's visual. "I don't think Colt's in here, we better head back."

"Do you think he found a way out, and he's seriously gone for back-up?" Tum tum asks on their way to the door.

They don't get close enough to touch the knob before a large crash sounds loudly behind them! Their reaction, though ninjas, was not fast enough to predict six vines when only the one intended to grab them.

The two scream when the large green tentacles wraps tightly around them, hoisting them into the air. They've been here before, only difference is this vine isn't just some disembodied houseplant growing from the fountain. This one is attached to the Mother.

Its big bulbus bulb is hanging from the center of a large murky moss covered room, its vines covered _everything_ and they're all different lengths and widths. They're stuffed into an old fireplace, coiled up the railing and rungs of a trail of stairs wrapping from the floor to a catwalk above that covered the entire topside of the spacious room.

It played with the bound brothers like they were dolls, squeezing them tightly as it bounced them across the floor stalk straight before whirling its vines in a rapid circle; Tum tum actually threw up! But just when they thought it ended with the unwanted ride and death grip, the two are raised up towards the almost glowing red bulb.

"Its opening!" Rocky cried out.

The inside is hot red with a yellow center, and there are large bubbles attached the unfolded walls. Judging by the steam coming from them, they're not full of confetti. One of them burst open and spilled its content to the floor where it burned straight through instantly.

"Tum, its acid! Don't get it on you!"

"Easier..." He grunts in pain. "said than done."

By that he meant the thing is elevating them right for the bubbling sacks. Sure that they're gonna meet their end by an oversized houseplant, the two grit their teeth and flinch away from the end.

"Nooo!" Rocky pleaded.

"Aaaahh!" Tum tum wriggles and shakes his head in a panic.

"I've got it!" Came a voice at the door.

Large balls of fire go flying into the air and land right into the plants tender opening. It writhed in pain and spilled it gastric juices all over the room. The boys were thankfully, yet painfully, being flailed around the room away from the acid bath that's flying all over the place.

"Should take a few more." The unseen voice says.

By round four the plant dropped them on the wooden platform due to its vine burning away. They landed safely, and scurried to find safety away from the Audry II. Rocky tugged his little brother into the large hearth to hide with him, and they watch as their hero continued to take down the plant. Its limbs rigor mortis straight out into the walls before the entire thing falls from the ceiling in a massive plop of dust and plant pulp.

"Jill!" Tum tum ran from the fireplace.

His hand brushed aside some ash revealing to his brother a gold plated key. Removing it from the dust and ash, he climbs from the hiding place, pocketing it.

The young boy couldn't help himself and he wrapped his arms around the gerenade weilding law enforcement.

"My partner Barry heard you two when you down in the tank room." She looked down at the young boy, but doesn't hug back. "He noticed the vines and put a mixture of things together from that back room in here, the one with the padlock."

"Jill, do you remember our brother Colt? He's missing, have you seen him?" He removes Tum tum death grip from the woman.

"No.. I'm sorry." Looking over her shoulder to where her partner should be, she says. "I only recently found Barry, but he doesn't know where Christ or Captain Wesker is."

They all jumped from fright when the individual sacks began to burst open, oozing their contents to the floor.

"How long has he been missing?"

"A day, we're not sure."

"Alright, we'll help you look for him."

"We saw that guy," Tum tum says when a hand is placed on his and Rocky's back. "your captain. He told us he was looking for you."

"And he left you alone?"

"Sort of." Rocky adds. "He was in a room looking at something, then he was gone."

"I see. You boys need to return to the mansion. Most of the zombies are cleared out from when we went looking for you... I want you to wait inside and don't move. We may know where the lab is to get away from this place and out of the forest safely."

"What about Colt, and our Dad?" Rocky wonders.

"We'll find them. I promise you."

8 8 8

Colt is in the bathroom, carefully pulling the threading free from his face. He's got the water running and he doesn't hear the door creaking open.

"Die, you monster!" Rebecca shrieked, taking aim.

Turning his head at the voice, Colt doesn't realize he's got the skin pealed somewhat off and looks very much like the walking dead... and worse. "Rebecca, don't!"

She fires!

...

Author's Note: Thank you very much Sycojay and everybody for reading and reviewing. I only wish I could do chapters sooner, but woo! I'm doing so many stories. I've got my hands dipped in everything. Thanks again. ^_^


	11. Five Minutes too Late

He's dead. Colt is sure of it! He was hit, right in the face with a bullet being tugged back a foot and into the wall fast enough and hard enough to have the back of his skull pop a hole into the dry wall. There's blood, a lot of it! Its dripping down his face from the forehead all the way to his chin, leaving a mess of red dots on his shirt and red dashes to mark the droplets paths.

"Colt!?" Rebecca cried out.

His dead eyes snap open, and he's being shaken before he's hugged to the girl. _'I'm... not dead?'_ He wonders.

All his stilled-from-fright sense come to right then, and he can feel the girl's soft embrace, her warm tears dampening the back of his shirt, and the wetness on his face sticking to her skin where their cheeks are touching. His hazel gaze lowered to the floor and he notices that he had indeed been shot in the face... his _other_ face. He let out a relieved breath. Had he not been a ninja, had his skill not moved him out of the way in time... he'd have a hole in his real face.

"We were so afraid for you," Rebecca is saying, never loosening her grip. "Where did you go? What happened?"

Colt can't speak.. not out loud anyway. He can only stare at the open door, as he struggles to remove himself from EVERYTHING! The abduction and being dragged under the house. The tea party. Realizing and seeing in the mirror that he has a woman's face! And... Lisa Trevor. Her deformed body, her gnashed voice with no words only sounds trying to form words. God... she had touched him. She sewwed that face onto his... she had fed him earlier, or at least she'd been trying to but... he was so afraid of her he took one look and passed out again. And then to wake up to the reality of it all.

"Are you ok?" Rebecca moves away to look at his blood soaked face. "Here, let me help you stop the bleeding. Do you know where its coming from?" Getting up from the floor, she pulls his arm to help him up.

Turning on the sink water, she grabs a rag that is hopefully clean. She doesn't want him getting an infection from dirt getting into the wound. Wetting it, she continues saying hushing, sweet things to him to calm his nerves. Rebecca doesn't blame him for being paralyzed, she'd almost shot him in the head! If she weren't such a terrible shot, if it had been one of the other S.T.A.R.S members... Colt would be dead. She looks at the hole in the wall eye level with the male; her eyes then look down at the thing she'd really shot. It looks like an old rubber mask, only its lined with Colt's blood.

_'What on Earth happened to him that that thing was stuck on his face?'_ She wonders. Wiping Colt's face, her eyes grow wide when noticing the source of the injury is from tiny little needle points lining the entire shape of his face! _'Thread? Was that thing...? Was that sewn to his face?!'_ Her hand jumped up to her mouth to hold back tears and vomit. It just couldn't be true!

But, as Colt slowly began to snap out of his stupor, she realized it was exactly that. His body seemed to convulse with need to collapse, but Rebecca caught him against her. His hands are fist at his sides, white knuckled to the point that it seemed the skin would split apart to expose the bone; he just rest his head against the girl's shoulder and cried. It shook him as if she were shaking him; and Rebecca let him have his tears while she pats him on the back.

"Colt what happened to you?"

"This big THING grabbed me... she pulled me under the house into this cave," He backs away getting a damp cloth to the face to wipe his tears and continue cleaning the blood. Sniffling, he goes on. "She's not like the others... she's intellegent, she tried to speak to me. I hit her over the head and ran."

Rebecca wonders again about the false-face sitting on the floor. Colt seemed to be calming down the more his face became exposed. His gaze looks down at the floor then the wall, and he crumples once again.

"She sewwed that thing to my face... I think she thought I was girl because of my hair. She said Mom to me..." He sobs. "She's gonna be so mad when she sees that hole."

"Well, she won't see you with it. Come on," Steering him to the exit, the two make their ways out into the hall and into the safety of Gallery room where the boys had found the first floor map in the Goddess statue. "I found this room a little while ago when looking for you, there's only one way in and out. I think it would be better to stay in here until your brothers come back."

"Where are Rocky and Tum tum?" He asks, his voice still sounds so distant and small from the shock of it all still nestled into him like his own muscle and bone.

"We've all been scrambling looking for you, I haven't seen them for a while but I do know they've gone outside-.." She gasps when realizing something. "The radio! We can call them with it." Closing the door to the hidden room that, like in the main hall, looked like a 3D mural; Rebecca removes her radio from the clip on her pant leg. "Guys, can you hear me? This is Rebecca..."

Static.

"Shit... they must be near some sort of interference. I might have to try them from a different room."

"Don't leave me alone." He says in a near panic.

"No, its ok. The place is cleared out mostly, at least it is down here. And this floor is solid marble."

"I can't be alone..." He rephrases.

"I'm sorry... it was rude of me to suggest. Come on, we'll go up to the balcony and try them again."

Colt got up from the seat he'd planted himself on then collapsed to the floor. All adrenaline gone, ease trying to claim control over his tension, he just could not stay on his feet anymore. Not to mention he hasn't eaten or had a proper drink in days, just a few dozen handfuls from the sink faucet whenever he passes the bathroom and that was only before he was taken.

Rebecca looked him over and knew it was fatigue that's knocked him out, poor guy is just famished. There's a kitchen around here, she saw sometime ago when looking for him. _'I don't wanna leave him alone again, but... he needs something to eat and drink. Maybe just for a moment... I'll baracade the door.'_

Exiting the room after lifting Colt one half of his body at a time to lay him down on the loveseat in the back of the walk-in closet sized room, she shoved the wooden display case against the door to keep anything bad out. Making her way to the dining hall, she passes through it with high nerves and for good reason too. Upon entering the hall that will lead her to the kitchen, she comes across a broken window. Anything could have come through there, this is now a dangerous hall, she'd better hurry up before the bad out there finds its way inside once again.

"I hope this food isn't bad..." She sorts through the fridge for something dated this year.

It was amazing the find, everything is edible and fresh! Despite the decay in the house, and the cobwebs here and there, the food and drinks are fresh.

"These people must have recently turned if all this food is as old as two days ago." She says to herself. She'd already checked around, there's only one mangled body laid out on the floor and he isn't moving at all. _'What to cook?'_ She wonders. _'I don't even know how to make much... I'll just throw some spaghetti together. Pasta was always an easy dish for my Mom.'_

Removing some frozen meatballs from the freezer, she then locates a pan dumping them over. The large oven should cook them quickly enough, and that thought got her prepping the rest of the meal. The sauce is poured into a pan, the noodles are waiting for the water to boil. She spent a few minutes wondering if they go into the water before it boils or after and finally just decided to wait it out. The smell in the air from the meatballs is refreshing, and the sauce coming in when its warmed up really helped to battle back the stink of decay and feces from the dead bodies. Just thinking about it makes her stomach churn over eating with corpse and stench in the air.

...

"Mmm." Tum tum says when putting his nose into air. "Do you smell that? It smells like food!" He says to his brother and their saviors.

The small group have gotten outside of the tiny house and are now on their way into the main building. The mansion, depsite being cleared, looks even more menacing than usual.

"How can that be, who's cooking?" Jill asks.

"Could be Colt!" Tum tum declared with hope. "He knew I'd smell it and come running" He sniffs the air again. "Mmm, and it smells like spaghetti! Come on!"

"You go ahead, I wanna finish checking out this cabin first." A red haired man named Barry says.

"What do you mean?"

"There are still rooms in there that need to be looked at, we would have finished if we hadn't run into these two." He explains with his gruff tone, beard bristling as if with each word.

"But Barry, we just found each other... we shouldn't split up anymore."

"Its okay, you two can go together. We know the way back to the mansion- at least, the way we came in." Rocky says. "If its Colt, that'll be good... if its someone else, that'll be good too." He touches the gun's handle resting outside the top of his jean's waistband. "We found some ammo before, so we're covered for the moment."

Jill looked very skeptical, even Barry who was ready to go off on his own. Could they really let the kids go off on their own?

"We'll be fine... trust us."

"All right... we'll trust you. We're on radio frequency four if you need us." Jill pats her radio. "Its always on, so please only use it if you really need help. These things respond to sound and heat, if nothing else, we wouldn't want our positions given away if we're trying to ambush them."

"We'll be careful not to over use it." Rocky assures.

Waving, the four separate and go their own ways. The two remember the snakes dropping from the trees and they both prepare themselves to run. The metal elevator was trembling less than them as it pulled the two up to the second level of the large concrete backyard. The snakes from before slithered off into the forest or back up into the trees, wherever they've gone they're no longer on the ground. It didn't mean the two were gonna loiter around and wait for them though.

"On my mark.." Rocky says taking his little brother's hand. "Ready... go!"

They dart from the elevator and down through the walkway. The device slamming into place behind them alerted the reptiles to activity going on around them and they dropped out of the trees like arrows fired from a bow. Tum tum shrieked when one brushed past him, and thankfully just brushed past him. It hit the ground, like the others, very audibly with a thick thump.

Rocky releases his brother's hand to instead drape himself around the boy's back for cover, while keeping beside him so their feet don't trip over each others. They don't waste time with climbing down each rung of the ladder into the large body of water's walk walkway. Rocky jumped stair down, and held his arms out.

"Tum, jump!" He orders.

Tum tum pinched his nose as if he's about to go for a canon ball, then he jumps into his brother's arms. "Sorry." He says when hearing him grunt from the weight of his catch. He isn't heavy, but he knows that Rocky isn't feeling well at the moment.

The snakes came down after them at any area of the large crater of a pool, some land on the walkway, which the two are clearing, and others dive head first into the water; it was odd if you didn't know anything about snakes, but the cold water seemed to pacify them, sending them down into the deepness of the pool water boxed in at the side of the walkway. Being reptiles the cold water was almost like a tasing to them, and they lost all control of theirself and just sank.

Rocky ushered his little brother up the ladder, giving him a shove to get him along faster, before he's able to climb up himself. There wasn't anything that could be done about the repulsive reptiles to help Jill and Barry out, so they can only hope the two have an easy time with the remaining trouble in the trees.

"Rocky, do you really think its Colt?" He adjust the heavy shotgun in his arms so he can get a better speed at running towards the house- especially the food.

The two enter through the large double doors and into the gardening shed. The large slap of parchment paper on the wall was obvious even to a blind man in L.A.

"What's it say?" Tum tum asks approaching it behind his brother.

"Its from that guy Wesker... it says here's some supplies for your wounds. Use them sparingly; and he fixed the door knob in the hall from here."

"That's a relief." He smiles. "The smell is getting stronger, come on."

The feet pound like a stampede of horses on the cold concrete, its vision blurred at the edges like it has tunnel vision. A hiss of a voice comes grinding out of it as it rounds the corner of the garden climbing the pipes of the open elevator. It thumps along the path of the garden stamping snakes into the ground like they aren't even there. One came down and took a bite out of it, but the snake only wound up being pulled free from its speed having the wind tugging its fangs out.

Its in the house now and coming up behind...

The two ninjas hear its ear piercing cry before they see what made it; the door opening didn't alert them, they only believed it was Jill and Barry, or even Wesker who left them the note. But they were not expecting a very large, 5'11", thick as a defense football player reptile to charge up behind them! Hunched forward like an ape, it ran at them at a great speed. Its over-sized hand rear back, splaying the forearm-sized claws out like a paperless fans frame.

"Aaaahhh!" Tum tum and Rocky scream when it leapt up into the air over their heads.

The blast from the shot gun rang out, it clipped the tail-less flat-face gator in the knee, dragging it back a distance into the wall. Though blown-out the reptile seemed not to notice nor care as it got itself up from the floor and charged again.

The shot had knocked them back onto the floor before, and wasn't any easier on them with Rocky's help holding onto his brother's stance. Legs parted and sideways, Tum tum rests the guns weight on his small thighs.

"Rocky, the trigger!" He commands.

Reaching around him, Rocky squeezes the trigger and not only does their foe go flying backward but so do they, and right into the double doors behind them. It was only a matter of seconds before the zombies that are outside caught wind of the activity and came in for some of the dinner buffet. Rocky removed his hand gun and fired at one through the window, pegging it in the head after four missed shots.

The foreign creature rest slumped in the corner of the hall, but not out. It bobbed up and down on the floor like it were having a seizure, before it again stands up. Rocky pulled him brother from the floor and ran them through the hallway where the zombies are lining up around the shattered open windows. Better the enemy you know than a stranger you'll have to learn about. And so far Rocky has learned this thing can really take a hit!

One look over his shoulder and he could tell this thing meant business, it isn't gonna wander around aimlessly like the zombies, its _hunting_ them... and enjoying it. A couple zombies that made it through the window were thrown aside like rag dolls of a child done playing with it, one even got its head tore clean off by the large claws of the green beast- and that was just from pushing it aside! Rocky could only imagine what the thing could and would do to them.

Shoving through another door, he pulls it closed just as the claws came slicing down. The door is shredded, but it bought them enough time to aim again and fire! But instead of flopping to the floor and hurling himself up, Rocky removed his hand gun again and began blasting off bullet after bullet into the things face. It screamed in pain, the sound was like knives scraping glass over and over. Its thrashing scarred the beautiful walls with thick gashes as if they were bed sheets torn by scissors... then finally... when the noise coming from it died down... it bled out.

The two don't even get a chance to rest their nerves when they hear Colt calling to them. Colt! Their grins were practically ugly they exploded so instantly on their relieved faces. Their missing brother ran over to them, grabbing the two up like they were the ones missing all this time.

"I'm glad you guys are ok." He says into Rocky's shoulder.

"We're glad you're ok! Where were you?" Rocky squeezes his brother tightly to him.

"Come on, we need to get to cover... I'll tell you everything once we get there."

The three reunited brothers make their way out of the hall and into the gallery, where Colt leads them into the dressing room behind the mural.

Tum tum's first destination was for the large serving bowl of spaghetti sitting on the seat in the dressing room. He removed the fork from his brother's empty plate and dug right in after serving some to his brother Rocky, by forking some over onto the empty plate- he can eat with his hands, Rocky needs to learn how to live a little. Handing the plate over, he eats with gusto while listening to Colt talk.

"So you're saying that Lisa took you?" Rocky asks with concern.

"You've seen her!"

"Let's just say Tum tum and me had a close encounter of the whack to the head kind. She belted us one in the cabin out in the woods. When we came to she seemed to be making a fire..." Rocky sighs. "She's frighteningly strong, and we just barely made it away... you're saying that she took you?"

"Yeah... let's just say she likes my long hair." Colt gently touched his longish hair, feeling a shutter run through him over the memory of getting his hair brushed and ponytailed by the monsterous girl.

"I'm sorry that happened to you, it just means we have to get out of here more than ever." Rocky pinches a fingerfull of pasta into his mouth.

"This is really good, did you make it?" Asks the younger of the three.

"No. Rebecca did."

"Where is she?" Rocky wonders, noting that she isn't in the tiny dressing room.

"I don't know. I woke up and found that bowl sitting next to me... ten minutes later, you two were in the hall." Colt sighs. Looking at Rocky he asks. "What happened to you two?"

"We searched for you, we were everywhere outside in tiny cabins. There's a butler's home not far from the house, you weren't there but we found Jill and this guy Barry."

"Where are they now?"

"Still at the cabin, they said there might be something there that they'd understand that we might not." He scratches his cheek.

"I found this key... I think its for the mansion, it looks like the other one anyway." Tum tum pulls the silver key from his pocket. "It might open the doors that we couldn't before."

"Guys," Rocky says solemnly. "I think Dad might not be here, wherever he is, he would have heard us and come out. Scared or not, Dad wouldn't allow us to be in this place without his protection. So whatever we find in those rooms, it won't be him. We can only hope that he's found the lab and is waiting for us to do the same. Maybe he's been captured."

"By who? What do you mean?" Colt cocks his head.

"Tum tum and me met up with this weird guy named Wesker... I know he's Jill's captain, but... I don't know, I got a weird vibe from him."

Tum tum nods.

"So we'll look out for him," Colt assures. Smiling, he says again. "I'm really glad you guys are back... that I'm back."

"Us too." Rocky pats his brother's leg, casually wiping the sauce from his finger tips.

"Bastard!" Colt shoves him playfully. "Watch the merchandise." He brushes the mess from his pant leg.

"So where should we start looking first?" Tum tum asks.

"There's a locked room right by here. We'll try that one first, hopefully Rebecca will catch up with us in a little bit. I don't like that that big green thing came after us; who knows where it came from or if it were even the only one." Rocky stands, ready to get moving. Any one of these locked rooms could have the path to the lab in them. Why else hide the key so far from the main house? "I wanna get out of here, sooner than later. If Lisa still has interest in Colt, she might come back for him. We have keep moving so we're not an easy target."

"Got it." Colt agrees.

Tum tum gives him a thumbs up.

The room is right next to the gallery doors, and Tum tum felt he should be incharge of the key because he had found it. Sticking the ash covered thing into the slot, he gives it an unsure turn in the lock hole. A smile spread across his face when a click sounded. The three ready their guns and step inside.

Its certainly not what they expected to see when greeted with a large illuminated globe, and a luxury vanity across the room made from the finest mohagany wood. An armless statue is beside the vanity smiling at the intruders with a seductive look on her face. A blue cushion couch is on the right wall, decorated with silver swirls all over it, and to the left is a long row of shelves holding jars of perfume, from what the can smell, and other things that look more bio geared, and there's even a jar filled with sentipedes... or maybe its one giant sentipede? Rocky was the only one brave enough to venture forward to look.

Tum tum gaped at his haggared, tired, appearance in the mirror and just shook his head. He can't believe he actually _wants_ to take a bath! Rocky rounds a corner at the end of the shelving unit which opens up like a hall's entrance beside the vanity. There's a tiny drawer back there that he goes to investigate.

Colt, on the other hand, is still shaken up and would rather plant himself on the couch. He's latched onto the arm of the chair like grim death, with his gaze upon the door they just came through incase something chooses to come through it. The chair isn't the only thing he's got a death grip on, his hand gun is gonna be perminantly molded in his fingers likeness after they leave this place.

"Tum tum, here. These should fit in Richard's gun."

"Richard's gun?" Colt asks while watching his little brother try figuring out how to load the big silver thing. "What happened to Richard?"

"Well, looking for you, and us... he got eaten by a shark."

"What?!"

"There was a broken tank under the butler's house... those things could have made Jaws piss himself."

Colt didn't say that he'd rather of taken his chances with them than Lisa, but he could tell his brothers have really been through something terrible, so he kept his feelings to himself.

Loud foot steps pound the floor above their heads; all three boys look up and wonder what the commotion could be from. If Rocky could take a guess, he'd say that dead thing in the hall has friends. Putting his finger to his lips, he waves an arm over his shoulder for his brothers to follow him.

They move quietly down the hall around the corner of the shelf. It leads them to a door that opens up to a perfect square of a room, that has one wall covered in a full length corner to corner mirror, that's got a large red curtain draped over half of it. On the right wall is a sort of decorative cabinet that has a music box on it. Colt remembered seeing one just like it in Lisa's room. He couldn't help reaching out to touch it, but when tugging it he found it wouldn't open.

"Looks like a dance studio... a small one, but a studio all the same. What do you think its for?"

"Beats me." Colt looks around the near empty room.

The three brothers hear the strangest sound behind them, its sort of like a rich throaty sound similar to someone getting the last bits of drink from the bottom of the cup through a straw.

"Tum tum..." Rocky whispered to his little brother, who is slowly positioning himself to fire the large shotgun off.

They don't have to wait long for the intruder to show itself, because the door came crashing to the floor! And there, on top of it, stands another of those aligator mutations. Rocky and Tum tum turn a ghostly white when they see a mangled snake hanging limply from its teeth; there's no way. There's just no way! Did they bring those things into the house when they worked up those snakes? Did their falling into that dingy awaken these things, bringing them into the home in search of a more promising meal than a skrawny snake.

"Shoot! Why are you just standing there?!" Colt barks.

Reaching for the gun himself, he pulls the trigger. The three ninjas slammed into the wall behind them, and the gator-like creature wasn't the least bit phased by the missing arm. Firing again the other arm is blasted off, but that didn't stop the threat.

Rocky tried to pin it down by shooting with his handgun but it leapt into the air and out of his fire. The gator's legs wind back and forth like its running in the air, when really its using its feet to slice and dice through the air with the long claws poised to shred whatever it hits before it lands. And if the weight of their steps is anything to go by, having that thing land on them would undoubtedly crack some bones.

Colt pulled the trigger again, and the scattered shot bursts the reptile's face wide open, the blast didn't send it flying back like the last time, though. The giant man reptile fell heavily between the three separating Rocky from Colt and Tum tum.

"Move away, move away!" Rocky says to them when the thing starts bucking and convulsing between them. Armless or not, the feet could splay out in any direction and cut them, and if it could do that much damage to a wall, it would surely take them apart.

Colt's hand slipped in he blood dropping him to lay in the thick mucus-like drool of red. Tum tum set the gun down on the floor and helped his brother up.

"Are you ok?"

"I've been better." Standing, he looks disgusted at himself. He's half red!

"We'd better get out of here before more show up." Rocky says after inspecting the thing.

"Ugh, can I change first... I think I've had enough blood on me to last me a life time." Colt shakes his soaked hand out.

"We don't have time for you to shower." Rocky says crossing the room, looking out into the powder room.

"No, some of the clothes in that little dressing closet looked like they could fit me. I'll be real quick, then we can go." He catches up to his brother's exit.

"Okay.. but you have to be quick."

They sneak back into the dressing room with more than enough nerves keeping their eyes everywhere for danger. Colt was true to his word about changing quickly, and he grabbed some army fatigue pants and a purple t-shirt; these clothes must have belonged to the scientists and chemists that stay here to do research. They're all men's clothing and of various sizes. Strange set-up for a dressing room for sure, but useful all the same.

"I wanna chan-.." Tum tum is cut off by a loud scream!

"AAAAAHHHH!"

"That sounded like Rebecca!" Colt declared.

"But where is it coming from?" Rocky looks around as if trying to remember which direction the long gone scream had come from.

When she screamed again, they got the location for sure. She's upstairs!

"Come on!"

The three boys fly up the stairs and in the direction of the office at the end of the long pink hall. Thankfully they didn't run into any trouble along the way, but only because the trouble was too busy with a less equipt target. Rocky pulled the door open, but Colt pushed through see what is going on. Rebecca is backed against the far door, hidden by the book shelf, but they can see the hunter stalking toward her at an agonizing pace.

"I'll open the door from the other side!" Colt declared rushing through the door beside them into the hall where that particular door opens. He can hear shots ringing out both loud and softer before he pulls the door open. A body fell to the floor... but it wasn't inhuman.

"Re..." Was all Colt could get out before dropping to his knees on the floor.

Rocky and Tum tum killed the beast, but the bullets killed it too slowly, and a headless Rebecca lay bleeding at his knees.

...

Author's Note: Eeeee *index fingertip tapping* sorry about that. Ahahaha, I hope your enjoying this and I'm also glad that you're enjoying it. I thought it would be too out there, so it means a lot to me that you like it.

^_^ thank you Tessy I'm gonna add some more home-front scenes next chapter.

And MaddieSakuraHaru thank you so much for that cause I read so many awesome stories and wonder if I've got what it takes any time I do something. So thank you very much.


	12. You Gonna Tell Me What That Was?

Rocky's eyes widen, though not because of the headless body resting on the floor between he and his brother, but because of the large reptile stalking its way towards Colt from down the hall.

Rushing forward the needed steps, Rocky grabs his wilted brother by the collar, jerking him into the office. The door is slammed shut by Tum tum, who either saw the hunter approaching its way toward the ruckus, or because he just wanted to have an enclosure from the madness that just ensued.

"Get off me, Rocky!" Colt thrashed within his brother's grip.

"No!" He holds him tightly within an embrace. "Not until you calm down..."

The door smashed open from contact with the creature's sharp claws. Colt barely reacted beyond sobbing into his brother's chest. Tum tum was prepared, because he knew the creature wouldn't leave it at a closed door. He just had to wait with the loaded gun to blast him in the face; he hadn't anticipated being blasted with door shards, and the large and small splinters aimed with accuracy. But he had to ignore the painful spearing, and just fire.

It sent the reptile sailing backwards three feet, landing onto its back. It wriggled and writhed then attempted to recover from being shot in the face, but when it sat up its hit again by a blast of bullets. That was enough to do it in.

"Come on." Rocky lifts his brother to his feet, dragging him out of the room and down the stairs to the storage room just past the turn.

The three ninjas let their guards down once inside, feeling nerves wash over them that shook their core. Rebecca's dead. Richard's dead. Jill and Barry are gone, for now anyway. And now, they have to deal with these things that are by far worse than any of those mindless undead zombies. They act on sound, and hunger lust. These humanoid alligators with a smooshed face, just seem to want them dead.

"Its my fault..." Colt cried out.

"Colt, keep it down!" Tum tum shouts.

"Make me- you little-.." Getting into his little brother's face, close enough to be nose to nose, he glares him down.

"You both need to shut up." Rocky hissed while shoving his brothers out of there 'face off'. "Do you want those things to find us again?"

Colt and Tum tum still glared hot daggers at each other, but another shove from Rocky eased them off.

"Colt... what happened to Rebecca was unfortunate, but look at the rest of the S.T.A.R.S members, she had to have known it was going to happen to someone else- including herself. We can mourn her, but we can't let it slow us down. We have to get out of here... That's our first goal."

Tum tum gaped in confusion. "I thought finding Dad was our first goal?"

"It... was." It seemed to drain his entire existance having to use past tense.

"What the Hell do you mean, _was_? Rocky..." Colt flexed his hand in and out of a fist.

Because after what just happened, he's ready to strike... and if his brother is saying what he thinks he's saying, then he's about to get a very distinct abjection. But Rocky looked so down, the already blue ninja had to stop himself, and it took _a lot_ of effort.

"We can't handle those things... zombies are being managed, but... I don't know how much I've got left in me. Not to face those. They take a lot of ammo, and I just can't-..."

He didn't see the hit coming, but it smashed into him hard enough to make the bones in his jaw vibrate. Tum tum spectated the horror show of Colt coming down on Rocky with all the force he's got. It didn't help that Rocky wasn't fighting back.

"Stop it!" Tum tum shouts while trying to get a handle on his rampaging brother. But getting a grip on a swinging Colt, is like trying to hold a greased eel. Its impossible. "Colt, knock it off! He's not even fighting back!" He decided to reason with his brother instead. But his words weren't getting in.

"Stupid... fucking... why won't you fight back?!" He slugs him again and again. And even when there's blood spattered on his fist, he can't seem to stop. Until hearing a _firm_ click.

Through pained tears, and a trembling chin, Tum tum readjusted his grip on the shotgun he has aimed at his brother's head. "I won't shoot you... but I won't move the gun away until you calm down." He sobbed.

The air in the room is so still with listen and wait, nothing but the sound of _spat_ from Tum tum's tears hitting the floor, mixed with the sound of Colt's loud ragged breathing going in and out as he calms himself.

"Rocky's got a point, we're all scared, and we're weak. And Grampa says never to attack unless you're sure you can win. And can we? Once these bullets run out from fighting one, do you honestly see anything good coming from us fighting with knives?" And his words, though strong, came out so meek and tired from the male's sobs.

"But Tum tum, this is Dad we're talking about."

"Exactly. Even though he's never been trained for this sort of thing, doesn't mean he isn't doing whatever he can. We are, and so far we're not doing bad. But now things have gotten worse and, I don't know if I can take one more encounter."

As if to drive his point home; one of the doors outside burst open, giving all the hidden male's a fright. They listened quietly to the sounds playing out around them in the hall. A zombie grunted in pain and with that sound came a crunch of bones and a wet pattering of blood hitting the wooden floor.

They listen for a bit longer; all three frozen in a sort of warped timespace of a pummeled Rocky laying somewhat rescued beneath his brother, Tum tum aiming at Colt with the shotgun, and Colt slightly hunched over with his ear learned towards the sound. But all are in wonder of what the creature will do next or where the creature will go next. It sounded as if it were pacing back and forth through its made entrance.

The creature screamed for some reason known only to it, and then an unfamiliar rattling sounded. It sounds sort of like when you shake a can somewhat filled with pennies or beads. Shoving Colt from over top of him, Rocky holds the nose of the gun and lowers it to the floor. Pressing his finger to his lips for silence, he then points to his ear then up at the ceiling.

Cocking his head, Tum tum then looks as if a lightbulb went off. Setting the gun down on the floor, he immitates Tarzan for Colt who still looked a little confused over what Rocky was getting at. Then it made sense. There's a huge chandelier outside of the room. The beast had leapt onto that. Telling foot steps are heard overhead as it descends down the hall and out of range.

Grabbing his brothers by the shoulder, Rocky whispers within their huddle. "Let's double back, to the area leading outside. They may all be in the house now, and hopefully there are no more beyond that one upstairs."

They have managed to kill a few, so luck will hopefully decide to be on their side and leave the hunters at just this last one.

"If they came from outside than won't there just be more out there?" Colt asks.

Rocky could only shrug. Honestly, he wants to find out where this hidden lab is and get moving. Once they're out of the place, they can call for reinforcements and be saved. Not just them, with more people combing the home, their father will be found as well. Then they can put this nightmare behind them for good.

"We have a key, there are still doors that need to be unlocked, not to mention the way to the lab could be anywhere. If Lisa is moving through secret rooms beneath the walls... we need to keep looking for through the rooms that are locked."

Colt nods. Tum tum nods as well.

Calmed from the emotional outburst that went down when they entered the little safe haven, they finally took notice to the items left about the room. A can of First-Aid spray, some shotgun shells, a few clips for their handguns, and a note tacked to the wall.

The three scoot over to it to have a look. Its a note from Barry! It says: You may need these. Use them with care. -Barry.

Lifting the white and green lettered can of spray, Tum tum pops the cap, aims the nozzle at his splitters then gives it a good squeeze. It was a good thing his brothers know him so well, because his scream got muffled through two sets of hands. He took a moment to breathe, then nods his thanks. After removing their hands, Colt and Rocky get busy removing the shards of wood from their brother, and Tum tum exposed the de-splintering areas to them by turning his arms this way and that.

Gently tugging out a large piece of wood, Rocky caught himself staring at it for a long time before putting it down. The blood on it looked and smelled delicious. Like he could bask in it, let his pupils dialate and just rock in the euphoria it brings. Not to mention, that leaking arm. His brother is such a chubby little guy, his meat isn't over stretched or under nurished. Tum tum is that perfect inbetween. Nice... and tender.

Grabbing his brother's arm, he gives it a squeeze to produce more of that juicy red filling from sliding out.

"Rocky!" Jerking his arm away, he backs into a corner of the room by the door.

Rocky was so under the spell, he couldn't even speak, he just swayed where he crouched before his brother moved. His breaths suddenly became very rapid, puffing in and out like he were pump for a tire being squeezed up, down, up, down rapidly.

Having never seen this sort of behavior, Colt tried to reach out to his brother, but Tum tum snatched him back. "Don't. He's going through another spell."

"Spell? What spell?"

"I don't know exactly, but its got something to do with that dog bite he got a few days ago."

Miserable, he frowns at that answer. "Rocky... he looks like he's in pain."

"It'll pass. I've seen it before." Slumping down onto his butt on the floor, he feels himself drowning in need of sleep. Heavy lids just droop closed.

"Tum?" Colt says to his younger brother, but the boy is already gone. "Rocky?"

His older brother is literally convulsing now, and every shake of his body he tilts back a bit more until he falls flat on his back. He looks between the two, Rocky then Tum tum. Retrieving the shotgun from his younger brother, he places it down on the floor then slides the sleeping male away from the door and over to his older brother. He'll let them rest, while he stands guard. Those freaks may have gotten Rebecca, but they won't get his brothers.

"I'm sorry, Rocky." He whispers to the unconcious male. Clutching the large gun across his lap, he waits for anything to come.

8 8 8

Mori and Jessica exit the plane. Its been a long flight, but their need to get to a forest ranger and find out where Sam and the kids are. Its just too strange how they haven't heard from them, and then the news is telling them all sorts of crazy things about people going missing in the woods, and that those people are being found _half eaten_.

"Dad, we have to find them." Jessica says while climbing into their called cab. "Do you think they'll let us go with them in the search?"

Mori chuckles good-naturedly. "I don't think they have a choice but to let you go with them."

Jessica could only smile as she climbed into the cab. Mori was right. She'd move a mountain to find her children and husband. No matter what she tells herself, she can't keep a safe, passable scenario in her head. The only one keeping her passive is that something happened in the forest, Sam took the children to a safe location then headed back. But that doesn't really comfort her, because she knows the boys. They would want to help, and whether they had permission or not, they'd be there. Which means they're all in danger.

8 8 8

"Rocky! Breathe!" Colt shouts into his brother's pain contorted face.

Ten minutes ago Rocky's chest rose hard, then fell in one weird long huff. Next thing Colt knew Rocky began to bounce and shake like he were trying to get oxygen and couldn't. He even began tearing at his throat.

Lifting him into his arms, he shakes him violently. "Tum, wake up and help me!" He screamed at his exhausted little brother. "Tum! ...Fuck!" Laying Rocky down, he latches onto Tum tum slapping his cheeks. "Tum tum!?"

"Uuu hhuuuu? Wha...?"

"Its Rocky, he's not breathing- help me!"

"Huh?" Rolling over, he looks to where Rocky is sitting. "He looks fine to me."

Looking over his shoulder, Colt gasps. Relief washes over him and he reaches out for his brother to hug him. He was _that_ worried about him. But something's... off.

"...Rocky... why are you so cold?" He gasped when his brother's embrace began to squeeze him, far tighter than he should have. "Rocky?" He panicked.

"Colt, watch it!" Tum tum slammed the butt of the gun into his oldest brother's jaw, knocking him free from Colt.

Rocky groaned deep and low in his throat; leaning forward he crawled over to Colt with blood lust in his eyes. Tum tum watched in horror as Rocky went after Colt, just as he had gone after him when the plant had knocked them out. He's turning again!

_'Or maybe... he's already turned?'_ Tum Tum's eyes widen with fright, then disgust over the next thing he sees.

Colt grabbed Rocky by the cheeks and just planted one on him!

"C-..Colt, what are you doing?!"

"Shut up and help me hold him down!" Colt screamed. Throwing his brother to the floor, he pins one of his thrashing arms down beneath his knee, then he pinches Rocky's nose before he gives him CPR again. "Tum tum!"

Shaking off the horror show of his brothers kissing, when in reality Colt was giving Rocky CPR; he kneels down beside them, kneeing his brother's wrist to the ground as well, Tum tum pounds on Rocky's chest for Colt.

Colt timmed his breathing into Rocky with Tum tum's pounding. It took so long to revive him, they thought for sure they've truly lost him. But when Rocky's color began to return to normal, and he coughed up sputters of blood. He weakly groaned, and spoke- he spoke!

"What hap..?" He rasped.

"Rocky don't talk, just nod. Are you ok?"

Rocky looks at his brother, nodding.

Colt swallowed over a hard lump; Rocky's eyes! The tops are frosted over! Had... had his brother really died?

Coughing, he's leaning into his brother's embrace. He tried to hold it in, but he emptied his stomach onto the floor. Sadly most of it was blood. Shoving Colt away from, he moves to a corner of the room and lets it all out.

"Tum tum... you're gonna tell me what the Hell is going on!" He shakes his brother by the shoulders.

Tum tum remained silent.

"Tell me!"

"Colt... Rocky's dying."

...

Author's Note: Eeee hey girl! Where have you been?


	13. Something's Not Quite Right

Colt felt dizzy, like he was going to be sick in his stomach and head. It just can't be true! Rocky's dog bite has infected him! What?! He cast his hazel eyes at his younger brother, recalling the idea that he could be dead right now, and that Rocky would have been the reason.

"Its true." Tum tum affirms, like he can see the gears in his brother's head churning. "He tried to eat me, but he saved me too! Even when he was feeling the effects of the virus... What are we gonna do, Colt? We can't lose Rocky..." His whole posture slumped down in defeat.

"We're gonna find a cure... Rocky's not gonna turn into one of those things- he's alive anyway!" Colt looks over at his brother, huddled in the corner.

The sweat beading on his forehead has made the older male's, greened, nausea look clammy now.

_'But for how long?'_ Colt wondered.

Rocky had stopped breathing while he slept. He died... If he hadn't resusitated him, he might have actually turned into one of those things. But how? A simple bite? How could that have caused it? And what's happening to Rocky while he's alert? If Tum tum's saying what he thinks he's saying, then Rocky's already gone unconcious twice now. It left Colt wondering something.

"Rocky, can you talk?" He asks the sweating mess in the corner of the storage room; he's sitting close enough to his vomit that if he lowered his hand an inch away from himself, he'd have a mess to clean up. "Can you talk?"

It took him a few shaking breaths, but he finally answered. "I'm not.." He rasps out. "dead yet." Laying the back of his head against the wall, he sighs to regain his breath.

"How do you feel? I mean, your insides..."

Rocky only drowsily lulled his head from left to right like he were shaking it, because he didn't understand.

Having seen a lot of doctor shows; Colt scoots over to the mess of a teen, and touches Rocky's stomach through his shirt. His stomach lurched at the touch, and Rocky rolled over again refreshing the pile he'd made earlier.

"Will you leave Rocky alone?" Tum tum requested; unable to shake the image that his brothers had kissed, even though that wasn't what it was. "Why'd you poke him anyway?" Standing, he moves over to Rocky, touching him comfortingly on the shoulder.

"I wanted to see if his stomach was bloated, or hard, or soft... I saw it on a doctor show."

"Well?"

"Its soft... really soft."

"...So?"

Drawing in a breath, he shakes his head while expelling it. "I think Rocky's rotting away from the inside." Standing, he lifts the shotgun into his arms. "We need to find that lab... there must be a cure there, and we can give it to Rocky."

"Can you walk?" Tum tum asks, following Colt's thought train again.

"Yeah..." He sighed out softly.

But the tucked in posture, just made it look as though he were going to take a nap.

"We can't bring him with us... Do you wanna stay here while I search for the lab?" Colt asks in all seriousness.

"Do...n... just leave me. I'll be fine... I just wanna sle... sleep some more."

The two cast their brother a pitiful look.

"Here, at least get comfortable."

Colt moves a bag of plant seeds over to the center of the room; and with help from Tum tum they lay Rocky's head on the soft sack so he can rest comfortably.

"Normally, I would tell you to stay.." Normally. As if any of this was normal. "But, I might need all the help I can get... especially if Lisa Trevor is still looking for me." He tried schooling the fear in his voice, but it only made it that much more apparent. "I can't face her alone... and I might.." He trails off. "We have a key, let's check in the room upstairs."

"We'll be back, Rocky... sleep well."

He only gurgled in response, before falling asleep.

Sighing in hopelessness over the situation, he then looks at Tum tum nodding that they should go.

...

"Do you see anything?" Asks the younger male, peeking into the newly unlocked room from over his brother's shoulder.

He takes in the paisly runner leading to a single step up. A circle framed painting of a beautiful 18th centery women in a white dress, decorates the wall up the stair. But there's little more there than that- at first glance.

"Hello." Colt hissed in a whisper. If anything were in the room it would have come running.

Leaving Rocky just downstairs, the pair made their ways upstairs and down the hall; the giant reptile must have given up, because for all their caution on the way up... the house didn't make a peep. So the two of them travelled down the hall to the comfortable room with the fireplace. And sure enough, the key opened it.

Braver, now that nothing has responded to the call, they enter the room; closing the door behind them.

The wallpaper is a green on darker green wirey design, and on the ceiling around a corner at their left is a mural of clouds in the sky. A single painting is on the left and right wall of a long room that's got a statue set in a divet on one side, and nothing in the other divet. Knowing how strange the home is, Colt could guess- without Rocky's Sherlock-wannabe-help- that the statue needed to be pushed into that space, since there's a grotesque statue of a top-nude woman with arms coiled around her- yuck.

"Better get pushing." Waving his arm, he starts into the room. "Tum, gimme a hand."

It was that instant. Colt set his foot down on the black and white tiled floor, and the walls- left and right- came closing in on him.

"Whoa!" With help from Tum tum grabbing him by the shirt collar, tugging him back, he backed from the hall.

The two watched the walls retract, just as steadily as they'd closed in.

"Its rigged somehow." Declared the blue ninja. Leaning into the room, he sees that nothing happens airspace-wise. Onto experiment 2, he set a foot down onto the floor and the walls moved in again.

Watching, Tum tum cocked his posture to the right when the corner of his eye sees a space open up behind the moving wall. "Colt, there's a button back there."

"A button?" He removes his foot; glad when the statue stopped the wall from crushing it flat as a pancake.

"Should I push it?" He asked quickly on his way into the secret passage.

"No! I'll push it... for all we know it'll drop the ceiling."

Shrugging, Tum tum comments. "If that's the case, shouldn't the shortest guy go in... the ceiling won't hit me as fast as it'll hit you."

Colt blinked thoughtfully. "You've got a point." Hand on his brother's back between his shoulderblades, he gives him a quick shove. "Just do it quickly."

"Got it." He gave him a thumbs up.

Mouth a tight line of stern ambition, fist balled for power, the yellow ninja gathers his speed and plows through the secret hall to the large red button set in the wall beside another grotesque statue of a woman intangled in arms.

"Shit, Tum, the walls pulling back- hurry!"

Colt would have ran in after him, but his weight on the floor might have made it go faster. When his brother exited the space, they watch as the wall closes over completely.

"I don't get it..." Tum tum comments. "Why would it pull the wall back?"

Colt looked from the large room with the statue standing in the center of it, to the wall that's now moving back into place, which is just open enough to reveal the secret space. Closing his eyes, he wonders what Rocky would do. He can't ask him. So he can only think about what he'd do.

"I think that's a door... Maybe I can push the statue in that open space right there." He points to a dip in the wall, beside this intricate wall that could actually be a secret door. "See how there's a statue on the other side of it, but this one isn't?"

"Yeah..."

"Tum, you push the button, and while the wall is backing in, you come help me push this thing into that spot- okay?"

"Okay."

"When I say 'go'...GO!"

The two took off running, Tum tum through the passage and Colt through the main of the room. He slid the statue a little bit on his own, but the thing really got moving when Tum tum came to help him. It hit a discolored block on the floor before the divit and the statue's weight tripped something that caused it to slide into the space with the discolored flooring. The two hurried out of the enclosing room.

Colt couldn't have been more proud to see the wall pulling all the way back; and when they stepped back into the main room, the walls remain parted. And before them, the cold decorated brown door pulled open into the ceiling.

"What do you think is in there?"

"I don't know," Colt walks into the opening. "Something this secret... could lead to the lab. Look how much work it took just to open this wall... Right?"

"Yeah." He looks at a tiny circle framed painting, a small counter with a note on it. "The thing you want is down there." He looks over his shoulder after reading the note. "In this hole?"

"I wish we had a flashlight..." Kneeling by the large hole in the floor, Colt flicks the lighter to life.

"Do you see anything?" He asks the leaning male.

"Yeah... but its really far to the back."

He really didn't want to but... Turning himself, he positions himself so that he can hold onto the edge of the floor while he climbs safely down into the hole. He grunted when his feet came to a thumping stand on dirt. Removing the lighter from his pocket, he gives it another flick.

"What?" Asks Tum, and he's wondering if he should join him.

"Its..."

"What! What?" He bounces with nervous anticipation, when hearing his brother gasp.

"Its a headstone, for Gregory Trevor..."

"The man who the letter was addressed to?" Tum tum grabs the note from the little table top.

"I think this guy died before the infection started..."

Colt swallowed over a painful dry lump in his throat. "He was tricked down here; he's holding a piece of paper that says so," He tells his brother. "They lured him down here, and let him starve to death. He was afraid for his wife and child... now he's sure that they're dead." He finished reading the man's final words.

Setting the paper down, he notices the dirt moved beneath the stone.

"I think there's something else here..." Pushing the stone, he's not surprised to watch it slide away revealing a trapdoor.

Opening the door, he notes a ladder leading down into a hall of sorts; from the hum coming up through the open door, he'd guessed that its a boiler room for the house. Or at the very least a basement of sorts.

"Are you still there?" Tum tum whispered down into the hole.

"Yeah... there's a trapdoor down here." He paused, then went on. "I wanna check it out."

"Should I come too?"

"Ummm... I don't see why not, unless you wanna watch after Rocky."

"I think I should go with you... You need me more, and Rocky's asleep," He struggles his way down into the hole, dropping his weight when feeling his brother's hands on his hips.

"We won't be too long." Colt wasn't sure if he were assuring Tum tum or himself, but they press on.

Colt went down first, Tum tum coming slowly after. He was right when he'd guessed that its a sort of boiler room. The cement paved hall buzzed with heating system activity, and fuses chimed in with their electrical hum.

There were also a mop sitting in a bucket; shelves with cleaning materials, and other such things. What an odd little place. Colt looks up at the ceiling when low thumps sound across it. Someone, hopefully a living someone, is walking on the floor in whatever room is above this. The steps aren't heavy enough to be one of those reptilian beasts, so its either human or undead.

"Colt watch-.."

"Tum tum!" He called after his brother that went flying backwards into a wall, where he remained stuck behind a very... very large spider web.

It only took for Tum tum to start screaming in pain to snap Colt into action. Pulling his survival knife free from its sheath, he makes quick work of snapping the webs away. They're thick like rubber band, and when he grabbed a hold of a strand he yelped himself before pulling his hand away from the acid-like burn.

"Fuck!" He waves his hand in the air to relieve his pain.

"Colt hurry!" Tum cried.

"I'm sorry, but it burnt my hand."

Continuing to snap the strands; his hazel eyes catch a glimpse of his brother's panicked expression, and looking over his shoulder he sees why. A giant tarantula is walking the walls to the ceiling, its dozens of eyes setting their sights on them.

Slicing faster, they make it away from the wall in time to avoid the spray of venom coming there way! The concrete wall barely withstood the chew of acid; the disolving hole exposed pipes to them. Imagine if that were their skin! There would be no surviving it.

Colt, unused to the recoil of a shotgun, decided to throw the knife in his hand like it were a dagger or shurikan. The point of the blade nailed the oversized aracnade in one of its many eyes; the pain dropped it from the ceiling onto its back, but its quick wriggling legs threw it over to stand upright, and it charged after them; the blade in its eye bobbed free from its rapid movement.

"Let's run!"

Following after Tum tum's retreat, they skitter to a stop when greeted with another fuzzy eight-legged freak.

"Let me have the gun..." Colt takes the shotgun from his brother; who's holding his shoulders to take some of the recoil down, and taking aim, he fires.

The spider went flying like Tum tum had, when hit with the web; its splattered face painted the walls with blood and fine hairs. The body didn't seem to register its death, and it continued forward in its assault; legs pounding the cement toward them until it finally collapsed.

Tum tum tugged Colt to the floor in order to dodge another round of venomous spit. With wall support, Colt took aim at the oozing wound caused by his knife then fired. The buck shot went clean through its face and out its bulbous rear-end. The poison inside its body left a green mess all over the place; the young male spider housed babies inside its body, the furry little youngins dart and drift rampantly about the thin hall.

The smell of them causing both ninjas to wanna vomit, and the sight just made their skin crawl all over the place before they were sane enough to scramble to their feet and run through a door at the end of the hall.

Slamming it shut, the two just wilt to the floor with their backs to the door. In the midst of taking a breather; Colt shakes his hand like he's been electricuted. A spider had crawled across it. They're coming in from beneath the crack of the door!

"Quick, help me stomp on them."

He and Tum tum stood up abruptly, and together they stomp out the baby spiders all accordingly; ten together, fifteen together. They even had to use their hands! The little buggers were getting in from the top and the sides; the infection inside of them gave them their father's blood lust, and they came in full-force for their first taste of human.

They exterminated for what felt like a half hour; spiders give birth to hundreds of babies! But soon their was only one left, falling victim under Colt's foot. Not to mention, however many have escaped into the house back the way they came.

Turning, he slapped a hand over Tum tum's mouth to silence him from screaming at the grissley sight before them. A man is tacked to the wall by the thick webbing; his skin was seared clean through to bone, and whatever wasn't... was littered with nasty boils. The worst of it, is that the man is undead beneath the webbing; his mouth is chattering with hunger, and what little of his head he can move is wriggling about to try getting at the pair.

His whole body was on the move; a deep his erupted from his throat, and his need to feast on them was great enough for him to push the limits of his decayed bones. He fell apart in chunks that would fit precisely in the divits of the spider's web. Any part of him that's still able to live, certainly can't move. Tum tum bit back his vomit, and his need to faint. He's seen so much decay, you'd think he'd be desensitized by it by now. But then, you try seeing a living deadman dissolved at the joints to become chunklettes at your feet and see how well you hold up.

"We better keep moving." Colt steers his frozen brother by the shoulders, on ahead of them.

The door at the end of the hall looked almost ominous, just because the path to it was paved with strung up zombies. There's even one on the ceiling! It smelled the boy's approach, and stomach acid drooled from its mouth as if its appetite had just been wet.

"Look what its done to the floor!" Points Tum tum.

"...I guess everything around here is mutated, if even stomach acid can burn the floor a bit."

It wasn't as much as the spider's venom, but it was still pretty impressive. They had to time their press forward with the spurts of up-chuck, and finally they made it to the door.

"What's with this?" Tum tum asks while looking at a broken cable that should have been in a surgebox that it fell from.

"Tum tum, don't just..." He doesn't bother finishing his sentence, because the kid already stuffed the cable back into, and turned it on.

The pair look around with curious wonder, when a hum hits their ears.

"What's that?" Tum tum asks.

"It sounds like an airconditioner kicking on."

Turning his attention back to the door, he turns a simple flip-over lock before opening it. Cracking it open, he peeks inside.

"Spaghetti?" Tum tum wonders when the scent of the room drifts into the dank hall. "Colt, its the kitchen. There's still some spaghetti left over from when Rebe-..." He clammed up right then. He doesn't wanna make Colt feel badly again.

His brother seemed to be ignoring the obvious, as he enters the kitchen with a huff. This room seemed almost a sanctuary, undisturbed by anything or anyone from one instant through to the next.

"The elevator's on, look." Tum tum hurried over to an elevator that's tucked away to the back of the kitchen; just past a zombie that seems dead-beyond-all-reason. "Should we ride it?"

"I don't see why not... we can give it a quick once over, then get Rocky."

Nodding, he pushed the button to open the metal framework before the elevator door. The two stepped on, and Tum tum pushed the button to take them up to the third floor of the house.

The door didin't 'ding' like most elevators would, it simply dropped them off at their destination. The pair couldn't wait to leave the fairly cramped space with its cobwebs- normal spider cobwebs- and wooden plank walls.

They weren't in the cream colored hall longer than a moment before the maons began. It sounded to their left, where next the sound of sticky rotting feet sliding across the floor met their ears. It was like something straight out of a horror movie when a decayed pair of hands appeared around a corner, and behind the reach came a walker with lazy intention.

Having lost his knife, Colt poised himself to attack with his martial arts skills; they have to conserve bullets more than ever, if those spiders are gonna be coming around often, it'd be better to save the larger weapons on them. And as for the beretas, those bullets are nearly depleated thanks to those giant reptiles cleaning out their clips.

Scared; Tum tum rushed forward, with his survival knife poised, and with a forearm as a bar he shoves the undead woman into the corner wall, pinning her in place- somewhat- on the edging of the room divit. Stabbing her quickly over and over into the gut; He's moved aside for Colt, who shoves his foot into her face with enough force for her aged bones to break under the pressure of the attack against the edge of the wall.

That wasn't the only moaning in the hall.

"I'm gonna trip him," Colt instructs. "You stab him in the face when he hits the floor."

Sizing the approaching zombie up, Colt rocks and waits for him to come closer. Its better he comes to him than the other way around. When the man was just within reach, he dropped to the floor tripping his legs out from under him. Tum tum scurried over like a little mouse, ramming the man inbetween the eyes with the long survival knife until he stopped moving and bled out.

"Do you think he'll evolve again?" By that he meant reanimate with a swelled head.

"I... hope not." Getting up, he brushes off the cobwebs from the dusty floor then looks around them.

The hall is dimly lit, though every sconce light is on, and there are two ways to go beside the elevator. One with double doors, and the other a trip around through the hall.

"Here's some of those plants, we should bring them back to Rocky. They worked pretty good on the dog bite, so maybe it'll help dull the infection- maybe even stop it!" He announced excitedly.

"Yeah, bring them along."

Tum tum hoped stuffing them in his jeans pocket wouldn't change the effects they bring. Then he followed Colt down the hall, the wooden floorboards announcing his exact places, and around the corner.

Peeking inside of a room, Colt cocked a brow in wonder. "Sweet, bullets aaand... a battery?" Lifting the large white battery, he wonders out loud. "Is this for a car?"

Head tilted in thoughtful wonder, he snaps his fingers when a little lightbulb goes off in his head. "There was an elevator outside that didn't work, I'll bet the battery is for that."

"Kinda big to be carrying around, we should leave it on the elevator so we don't forget it when we leave."

Taking the shoved-into-his-hands item from Colt, he walks out into the hall to stick it on the elevator.

"I still can't get over all of this... How did it happen? And what was the purpose?"

Hearing his brother in the distance, Colt gives an unseen shrug. "I don't know, but I'll bet its got something to do with world domination." He said half kidding, half serious.

Most scientific things involve either terrible accidents or happy mistakes, that are later used for something just awful to inflict on mankind. A bunch of undead humans seems like the kind of thing you'd do on accident then later try to perfect. Who wouldn't listen to a guy who can control something that's practically impossible to kill, and is frightening beyond all reason? Colt had to brace himself of a shudder.

"Shit! Dammit!"

The two pipe to attention when hearing a human voice!

"It's coming from over here!" Colt hurries around another turn in the hall, to a door at the end where a single bang sounded, before fire erupted. "Don't worry, we'll help!" He called loudly through the door before unlocking it.

The stranger didn't waste time backing into the safety of the hall, shooting round after round off into a reptile's scalely face. It shrieked something awful before launching into the air for a strike. But the man threw a kick up against its throat, then heel dropped the fallen creature to keep it pinned while he shot it in the back til its death.

Sighing with relief, he closed the door.

"Wesker." Tum tum announced.

"Wesker? Jill's Wesker?"

The man seemed a bit miffed at the term, since he is the captain of the team, but he let it go. Running a hand through his blond hair; he casually took in the two. "I take it you've been running into some trouble." He meant the blood all over their clothes.

"Understatement of the year." Replied Colt reufully.

"What're you kids still doing here, I'd of thought you'd of made your ways home by now." He went on saying as he passed them in the hall. "This lab is not a place for children."

"This is the lab?" The pair ask almost simultaniously.

"The upper half, yes, but the real lab is below the house... you'll find the entrance inside of a well."

Following after the man, their excitement is brimming. The lab's entrance is inside of a well! How clever.

"Do you know how to get there?" Tum tum practically tripped over his own feet side-stepping with Wesker's pace.

"No, unfortunately... But once we find it, my team will see that you get home." He explained. "There's a heliport outside this building- I saw it from the window of another room- we may be able to contact our team's chopper to pick us up."

"If your team is still around, could you please find our dad?" Tum tum pleads.

"We'll do what we can."

The three look down into a library. Shelf upon shelf filled with scientific books and journals filled with notes. Crossing the catwalk, they come across a ladder leading down into the library; Wesker went right for a computer on the table, the boys just look about curiously.

"Tum tum, stop breathing like that." Colt ordered while thumbing along a shelf.

"Like what?"

"With that hiss... its making me uneasy."

"I'm not." He removed a thick book from the shelf. Eyes wide, he backs slowly away from the shelf. "S... sna... sna... snake!"

"What?!" Colt backed up so quickly he hit the bookshelf behind him.

Tum tum was frozen in fear, staring at the enormous cobra slinking around the room.

The snake couldn't decide which meal to devour first. The decision was made for him when a round split him in the side of the head. Spotting Wesker shooting at him, he shoved violently past the young boy. The shotgun hit the floor, misfiring at the snake's body. It wriggled and writhed causing an eruption of vibrations through the floor, enough the knock over the bookshelves!

Scooping up his brother, Colt took Wesker's command that they get out of the room, that he could handle it. And he didn't need to be told twice. While Tum tum climbed the ladder, he looked over his shoulder and was momentarily confused upon seeing the man remove his sunglasses. What's that about?

The two hurried back the way they came, terror racing through them that, in their hurry, they might run into something they're not prepared for. But all was clear. Literally. Because when they opened the door to the storage room, both were left with the question...

Where's Rocky?

To Be Continued...


End file.
